As children enter adolescence, social status within the peer hierarchy gains importance. Variable-oriented research has linked adolescent popularity with both positive and negative adjustment outcomes. Popularity may be better understood with reference to types or subgroups of similar individuals, identified through person-oriented approaches. Resource Control Theory (RCT: Hawley, 1999) posits three distinct types of popular adolescents: coercive, prosocial, and bistrategic. The existence and adjustment correlates of the prosocial and coercive groups have been well-established, but little evidence supports the existence of a bistrategic popular group of adolescents, and even less is known about their adjustment correlates. The present study aims to confirm the existence of the popularity groups hypothesized by RCT and to identify group differences in social adjustment and problem behaviors. A sample of 568 adolescents (n = 288 girls, 280 boys; M age = 12.50) completed peer nomination procedures and self-report questionnaires in the Fall and Spring of the 7th and 8th grades. Longitudinal latent profile analyses classified adolescents into profile groups on the basis of initial physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior, and four time points of popularity spanning the 7th and 8th grades. Repeated measures ANOVAs examined profile group differences in social adjustment (peer acceptance, peer rejection, physical victimization, relational victimization, and preference for solitude) and problem behaviors (disruptiveness and delinquency) across the 7th and 8th grades. Results indicate that adolescents fall into one of four distinct groups: aggressive popular, prosocial popular, bistrategic popular, and average. Bistrategic popular adolescents evinced positive social adjustment, exhibiting the highest levels of popularity and peer acceptance and the lowest levels of peer rejection, victimization, and preference for solitude. Despite their social skill advantages, bistrategic popular adolescents were also at risk for problem behaviors. Bistrategic popular adolescents scored above average on problem behaviors, including physical and relational aggression, disruptiveness, and delinquency. Bistrategic popular adolescents successfully navigate the social world in a manner that both offers hope for positive long-term adjustment and concern for the same. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Adolescent friendships are critical for adjustment but are extremely unstable. Dyadic characteristics may put friendships at risk for dissolution, whereas individual characteristics may put individuals at risk for participating in unstable friendships. The present study examines whether dyadic or individual school-related characteristics predict rates of adolescent friendship dissolution. A sample of 410 adolescents (n=201 males, 209 females; M age=13.20 years) participated in 573 reciprocated friendships originating in the 7th grade which were followed from 8th-12th grade. Discrete-time survival analyses evaluated grade 7 dyadic and individual characteristics (sex, age, ethnicity, number of friends, peer acceptance, peer rejection, leadership, and school competence) as predictors of the occurrence and timing of friendship dissolution. Dissimilarity in sex, peer acceptance, and school competence and similarity in leadership predicted higher rates of friendship dissolution; individual characteristics were not significant predictors. Adolescents seeking friendships with more skilled individuals risk suffering the downside of dissimilarity, namely dissolution. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Zeng, Xihua. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-149). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; appendixes in Chinese.

This study was designed to investigate the attitudes of academically gifted adolescents towards the development of their personal strengths or gifts and to compare these with the attitudes of age peers not identified as gifted. This study also examined the reported higher levels of moral reasoning in gifted adolescents compared to age peers and how this may relate to their development of academic potential. The 750 participants included 401 identified gifted students and 349 students not identified as gifted in Years 9, 10 and 11 from seven different high schools in the Sydney Metropolitan region. An instrument entitled the Development of Personal Strengths Questionnaire was developed to analyse students??? attitudes while the Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1986) was also administered to measure moral reasoning ability. Results showed that gifted students have significantly higher levels of acknowledgement of personal strengths and reasons for developing personal strengths, which reflect altruistic motivations. Gifted students scored significantly higher on altruism and philanthropy and showed significantly higher scores on the Defining Issues Test. Aspects of developing personal strengths, on which gifted students showed no significant difference from non-identified peers were in areas of motivation and responsibility for developing these strengths. A significant, but modest, connection was found between development of personal strengths and moral reasoning. Gender differences were also examined, with males reporting higher acknowledgement of personal strengths than females and females reporting higher levels on reasons for developing personal strengths as well as altruism and philanthropy. Females also showed significantly higher scores on the Defining Issues Test. These results were consistent within the gifted participant group. It was concluded that gifted students in this study were more likely to acknowledge their personal strengths or gifts and were more inclined to hold reasons for this development which related to higher levels of altruism, philanthropy and moral reasoning. These characteristics need to be taken into consideration in development of programs and provisions for gifted students, both now and in the future.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title from title page (viewed Apr. 23, 2007) Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-74).

Despite recognition in the literature that adolescence represents a relatively high-risk developmental period for health-risk behaviors, only limited attention has been given to the subjective meanings adolescents assign to such behaviors. One potentially fruitful avenue to explore in understanding the adolescent perspective on health-risk behaviors is the use of word association techniques. Word association techniques are an efficient way of determining the content and representational systems of human minds without requiring their expression in the full discursive structure of human language. A free-association technique was used to provide insight into the meanings adolescents give to a variety of behaviors. Using this technique, 411 high-school students (age range 14-20 years) provided up to five associations for each of nine behaviors. Six of these behaviors (drinking beer, drinking liquor, smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana, using cocaine, and having sexual intercourse) were conceptualized as health-risk behaviors. The remaining three behaviors (exercising, using a seatbelt when riding in a car, and using a condom) were conceptualized as health-protective behaviors. Based upon a five-point scale (from 1=very negative to 5=very positive), respondents also indicated whether their associations meant something negative or something positive to them. In addition to exploring the subjective meanings adolescents assigned to a variety of behaviors, the study examined whether assigned meanings differed by degree of participation in the behaviors, by gender, and by age. Results indicated that images associated with adolescent health-risk and health-protective behaviors were linked to the anticipation of specific outcomes. The specific goals of adolescent health-risk behaviors that emerged from this study included: social facilitation, having fun, physiological arousal, relaxation and tension reduction, sexual facilitation, and positive affective change. Given that health-risk behaviors were found to be associated with specific outcomes for adolescents, the present study supported a possible shift in prevention and intervention programs from a problem-focused approach to an approach that offers less destructive alternatives for meeting adolescent needs. / Graduation date: 1994

Si la santé n'a pas toujours été un enjeu de la recherche, la santé de l'adolescent encore moins. Aujourd'hui encore, le nombre de travaux portant sur la santé proprement dite est nettement inférieur aux travaux sur les pathologies. L'intérêt pour l'adolescence, comme tranche d'âge ayant des particularités physio-psychologiques et pathologiques propres, est à peine plus ancienne. La création d'unités de médecine somatique pour les adolescents est encore exceptionnelle. En psychiatrie, l'intérêt pour l'adolescent est un peu plus ancien et date des années trente avec Debesse (1936). Debesse est non seulement le premier qui s'intéresse à la santé psychologique des adolescents mais est aussi le premier théoricien de la crise d'adolescence. Ce concept entretient, dès sa formulation, des rapports étroits avec la limite entre la santé et la pathologie, mais aussi avec celle entre l'individu et sa famille. C'est dans cette perspective que la thèse essaye de mettre en contact deux courants psychiatriques différents (psychodynamique et statistique) avec comme objet d'étude les rapports entre adolescence, famille et santé. La thèse se démontre en deux temps : - le premier temps, avec la première hypothèse est : l'adolescence est un processus personnel d'internalisation d'un sentiment de responsabilité sur sa propre santé qui évolue avec l'âge. Pour démontrer cette hypothèse, nous employons un instrument standardisé, l'échelle multidimensionnelle du lieu de contrôle de la santé de Wallston. Cette échelle, élaborée en 1978, a montré dans de nombreuses études que, plus il existe un haut sentiment d'auto-maîtrise et de responsabilisation du patient par rapport à sa pathologie, plus le pronostic est bon et plus les objectifs thérapeutiques sont rencontrés. Complémentairement à la première hypothèse, la deuxième est alors que : les adolescents symptomatiques (c'est-à-dire présentant une symptomatologie d'origine psychique tous diagnostiques confondus) ont un retard d'internalisation par rapport au groupe contrôle. - le deuxième temps est celui du volet familial. Nous employons ici un instrument standardisé de la psychiatrie anglo-saxonne, le modèle circomplexe de Olson (1986) (Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scale version III). Ce modèle permet d'évaluer la dynamique familiale sur deux axes que sont la cohésion et l'adaptabilité. La cohésion se définit sur base des "liens émotionnels que chaque membre de la famille développe à l'égard des autres". Les formes extrêmes étant l'enchevêtrement ou le désengagement. L'adaptabilité recouvre "l'habilité du système conjugal ou familial à changer sa structure de pouvoir, les rôles dans les relations et les règles en réponse à une situation ou une évolution stressante". Les formes extrêmes étant la rigidité ou le chaos. Ce modèle a notamment été utilisé dans différentes études sur les phénomènes de la santé. Cet instrument est utilisé dans la troisième hypothèse qui est : les adolescents symptomatiques ont des familles plus "rigides - désengagées" ou "chaotiques - enchevêtrées" que le groupe contrôle. La quatrième hypothèse vise alors à montrer qu'il existe un lien entre le processus d'internalisation du lieu de contrôle de la santé et la dynamique familiale. Ces 4 hypothèses démontrées permettent de dire que : - l'adolescence est un processus d'internalisation relative de la santé lié à la dynamique familiale et que - la crise d'adolescence peut-être définie comme un retard d'acquisition de cettre maîtrise, retard d'acquisition corrélé avec une dynamique familiale particulière.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Clark university, 1897. / Cover title. Reprinted from the Pedagogical seminary, vol. V, no. 1. Also available in digital form on the Internet Archive Web site.

Although the prevalence rate of panic disorder (PD) among adolescents is relatively low, epidemiological research suggests that panic attacks and subclinical panic disorder symptoms occur in a substantial portion of the adolescent population. Retrospective and prospective studies also suggest that adolescence is a critical developmental period for the onset of PD symptoms. Given the negative academic, social, and emotional outcomes associated with undetected and untreated PD, effective prevention and intervention are warranted. Identifying adolescents with current PD or who may be at-risk for future PD is an important step in such treatment efforts. Among professionals working with youth, physicians and medical staff may be at a particularly advantageous position to screen for adolescent panic symptoms, given the high utilization of medical services among those experiencing such PD symptoms. Although limited time and resources within primary care settings frequently hinder effective mental health screening procedures, the use of time-and cost-effective screening instruments may aid professionals in detection efforts. With this in mind, the current study sought to validate a brief screening tool previously studied with adults for use with adolescents seen at pediatrics primary care practices. The screening instrument was evaluated both in terms of its ability to effectively detect adolescents with PD and in terms of the association between positive screen status and cognitive, symptom, and broader impairment variables associated with PD. Participants included 165 adolescents (57% male) ages 12 to 17 (M = 14.40; SD = 1.77) recruited from two general pediatrics clinics in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The sample was 42.3% White, Non-Hispanic, 41.1% Hispanic, 7.9% Black (African-American and Caribbean American), 1.2% Asian American, 7.4% mixed ethnicity or other, and 1.2% unknown. At Time 1, while in the waiting room of a pediatrics clinic, participants completed the Autonomic Nervous System Questionnaire (ANS; Stein et al., 1999), a five-item screening measure of panic symptoms. Of this larger sample, 45 participants (25 screening positive for potential panic disorder and 20 with negative screens, matched by age and gender to the positive screen group) completed telephone-administered follow-up measures at Time 2. Follow-up measures included a more comprehensive diagnostic assessment of PD and agoraphobia, as well as adolescent-report measures of anxiety sensitivity, interpretive biases, overall anxiety and depression, and functional impairment. At Time 1, 65 participants (39.4%) screened positive on the ANS, as indicated by endorsing the first and/or second item on the measure. Of those screening positive, roughly one-third of participants (33.84% of positive screens) endorsed moderate to severe anticipatory anxiety about future panic attacks. The ANS displayed excellent sensitivity (Se = 1.00), with two participants from the positive screen group meeting criteria for PD, and no control participants meeting criteria. However, as expected, specificity of the ANS was lower (Sp = .43), indicating a high degree of false positives (e.g., those screening positive but not meeting criteria for PD). In addition, as hypothesized, the ANS demonstrated good test-retest reliability (r = .74). Independent samples t-tests revealed that positive screen participants had significantly higher self-reported anxiety sensitivity, interpretive biases, anxious and depressive symptoms (including panic), and functional impairment than negative screen participants. This difference remained significant for overall symptom T-scores on the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scales (RCADS; Chorpita et al., 2000), even after controlling for group differences in anxiety sensitivity and interpretive biases. Finally, further analyses revealed that participants endorsing both starter items on the ANS (n = 7) had higher elevations on self-reported anxiety sensitivity and panic symptoms, compared to those not endorsing either item or those endorsing the first item (e.g., "In the past six months, did you ever have a spell or an attack when all of a sudden you felt frightened, anxious, or very uneasy?"), but not higher than those endorsing only the second item ("In the past six months, did you ever have a spell or attack when for no reason your heart suddenly began to race, you felt faint, or you couldn't catch your breath?"). These findings offer preliminary validation for the ANS as a screening measure for PD in adolescence, given its high sensitivity and ability to adequately "catch" patients with PD (e.g., low false negative rate). Perhaps even more importantly, those screening positive on the ANS demonstrated higher scores on cognitive correlates of PD and elevated internalizing symptoms and functional impairment, compared to participants screening negative. Based on these analyses, current recommendations for physicians and medical staff are to monitor and follow-up with adolescents screening positive on the ANS for the development of anxiety and panic disorder symptoms, particularly among those who endorse both starter items. However, given the relatively small sample size, replication of these findings in a larger sample is needed to further validate these recommendations. Finally, implications for prevention and intervention within pediatrics settings are discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-184). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99148