The Journal of Early Adolescence

The current study bridges research on peer relational and physical victimization with research on ethnic victimization and situates this research in the context of ethnic diversity. Specifically, the authors investigate how ethnic, relational, and physical victimization relate to concurrent levels of depression/anxiety and physical aggression and assess individual and classroom ethnic differences in these associations. These associations are tested using data from a cross-sectional sample of Aboriginal, Asian, and Caucasian adolescents in Grades 6 and 7. Overall, ethnic, relational, and physical victimization were significantly intercorrelated and showed common and unique associations with depression/anxiety and physical aggression that differed modestly by ethnicity. Levels of classroom ethnic diversity differentially influenced some of the associations between ethnic (but not relational or physical) victimization and adjustment problems for Aboriginal and Asian adolescents.

The current study examined the impact of supportive social relationships (i.e., teacher support, adult support, school relatedness) and peer victimization on middle school students’ substance use. Over 3,000 middle school students reported on alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, supportive social relationships, and instances in which they were the victim of aggressive behavior. Mixed-effects logit regression analyses revealed complementary patterns of results across types of substances. Students who perceived high levels of social support were less likely to report alcohol and drug use initiation, particularly at low levels of peer victimization. Gender moderated the negative effect of peer victimization, with highly victimized boys most likely to report alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use. Results indicated a complex interplay of social influences and moderating variables in predicting early onset alcohol and other drug use, one that researchers should consider when studying adolescents’ decisions to use alcohol and other drugs.

This study supported associations between three theoretically driven conceptualizations of racial and ethnic identity (REI; Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure; Multidimensional Racial Identity Measure; Bicultural Identity Measure) and with adaptive functioning among Canadian indigenous adolescents in middle school to high school. Age differences were found across the ethnic identity statuses but not for the continuous REI measures. Overall, adolescents placed predominantly at the traditional (identified with indigenous culture) and marginal (neither identified with indigenous nor mainstream culture) ethnic identity statuses with fewer marginal and more bicultural (identified with both indigenous and mainstream cultures) categorized adolescents across the age-range. Traditional students followed by those classified as bicultural evidenced greater REI and adaptive functioning in comparison with marginal and mainstream students. Predicted relationships between REI and adjustment among Canadian First Nation adolescents were supported; findings suggest potential benefits of First Nation communities for REI development.

This study examined how maximizing and minimizing responses to positive events were associated with sustained positive feelings about the events and adjustment in a community sample of 56 young adolescents (31 boys and 25 girls, 10-14 years of age). On daily reports, adolescents reported their positive emotional reactions to their best event each day. A week later, they reported their responses to their most intense positive event across the 4 days. Parents and adolescents reported on adolescents’ adjustment. The results indicated that maximizing responses were related to more intense feelings about the events 1 week later. Minimizing responses were associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors over and above coping with negative events. The findings indicated that adolescents can maximize or capitalize on positive events but that minimizing is linked to poorer adjustment. Our study parallels existing research with adults and offers new information about young adolescents’ responses to positive events.

The same stressor can evoke different emotions across individuals, and emotions can prompt certain coping responses. Responding to four videotaped interpersonal stressors, adolescents (N = 230, X ¯ a g e = 10 years) reported their sadness, fear and anger, and 12 coping strategies. After identifying emotion patterns using cluster analysis, associations with coping were examined. Intensity of emotion, and emotion and stressor type were associated with coping. Adolescents with intense emotions (i.e., highly sad, afraid, and angry) anticipated using more of most coping responses, whereas diffuse but moderate intensity emotion was associated with more active coping relative to other strategies. Anger was associated with less passive and more opposition coping. However, the expected coping clusters and patterns for fear and sadness were not found; no cluster of adolescents was intensely fearful or sad only. Support seeking and opposition were more common for peer-related stress, and active withdrawal was more common for parent-related stress.

Although autobiographical memory specificity is an important developmental feature fostering adaptation throughout life, little is known about factors related to interindividual differences in autobiographical memory specificity. The current study investigated associations with early adolescents’ communication with mother about their experiences and their trust in her support. For this reason, 80 general population children (ages ranging from 10 to 13) were asked to retrieve specific memories of interactions with mother. Communication and trust in maternal support were measured using questionnaires. Results showed that specificity of autobiographical memories was directly linked with communication, but not with trust in maternal support. Moreover, evidence was found in favor of an indirect effect of trust on autobiographical memory specificity through communication. This study suggests that trust-related mother-child communication is important to understand interindividual differences in autobiographical memory specificity.