The study of prosocial behavior is growing increasingly multidimensional in the way that it considers whom is helped and how. One area of concern is the effect of gender on prosocial behavior. Is masculine behavior more physically oriented, and if so, are measures neglecting these behaviors and biasing results toward more feminine prosocial behaviors? The current study sought to answer these questions by creating and validating a new multidimensional measure of prosocial behavior that includes behaviors more common to males. An EFA was performed on a sample of 463 adolescents and emerging adults from Amazon Turk (US citizens, 16-25, 60% male, 69% Caucasian). The results indicated a three-factor solution for family that was similar across gender, but different scales for males and females for friend and stranger oriented prosocial behavior. CFA analyses were performed on a sample of 453 adolescents and emerging adults (16-21, 60% female, 61% European American) from the Flourishing Families Project. Results indicated that all five measures had good model fit and internal reliability and validity of all three factors were established. Measurement invariance as a function of gender was established for the family scale. Discussion focuses on the implications of this measure on prosocial research including higher levels of masculine prosocial behavior for multidimensional types of prosocial behavior.

The purpose of this study was to explore career outcomes in young adulthood for individuals with ADHD and/or high abilities. The sample included respondents who had valid ability and ADHD measures from waves 1 (1995), 3 (2002), and 4 (2009) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health in-home questionnaire. Using multiple group path analysis, we examined the pathways for three groups of individuals (i.e., ADHD, high ability, and both). Our findings indicated shared as well as unique pathways in these three groups, involving their parents’ education, parental educational expectation, family income, school attachment, depression and anxiety symptoms, educational aspiration, high school GPA, and post-secondary educational enrollment modeled on perceived social class, occupational status, and career goal attainment. The findings suggested group differences in some significant pathways. Knowledge about these trajectories will help educational and mental health professionals better understand the potential supports and barriers in career success for these individuals with exceptionalities.

The Child Welfare system is widely known as the macro system responsible for ensuring the safety of children within particular parameters, which, in some cases, results in the removal of these individuals from their family of origin. Research has explored the short- and long-term effects of this disruption in hopes of improving the ability of services to effectively prevent negative effects. Despite improvements on a macro and micro level, foster youth continue to be unprepared for the transition out of the foster care system, resulting in negative outcomes. According to research, the newly developed theory of emerging adulthood may have implications in terms of the component that is key to the success of this population in the future. The purpose of the current study was to explore the importance of social support for newly emancipated foster youth. This study utilized a qualitative study design and sought data in the form of self-reports which were captured through an interview that consisted of 14 questions. Participants included 8 administrators working in the counties of San Bernardino and Riverside who possessed at least two years experience working directly with emancipated foster youth or with an agency which provided services to this population. The data collected was conceptualized as a model that highlighted the application of the theory of emerging adulthood as important in terms of service implementation; however, implementation would require the reconsideration of policy and improvement the utilization of services by foster youth in order to increase permanent placement. The results of this study implies that future research should determine the benefits of beginning independent living services at a younger age, linking these individuals with informal support systems, transitioning these individuals to a social worker with the knowledge and ability to apply the theory of emerging adulthood, regarding these individuals as active participants in the services provided, and providing foster parents with psychoeducation.

Research has suggested that depression symptoms generally decrease after late adolescence; however, there is increasing attention paid to depression symptoms among college students given the stressors unique to this time period and negative outcomes associated with depression. This study examined latent trajectories of depression symptom severity among college students. Participants were 9,889 college students who participated in the Spit for Science project (Dick et al., 2011). Growth Mixture Modeling was used to identify the presence of four subgroups of individuals with similar patterns of initial level and change in depression severity over four years of college, including Low/Minimal (55.9%), Decreasing (2.8%), Increasing (11.6%), and Chronically Elevated (29.7%) groups. Risk factors of belonging to a depressed mood trajectory include female gender; lesbian, gay, or bisexual orientation; and experiencing a greater number of stressful life events. Higher social support and self-reported resilience were associated with decreased likelihood of belonging to any of the depressed mood trajectories. Overall, it appears that most college students in this sample experience only mild depression symptoms; however, it is important to recognize and intervene early with individuals who report elevated depression symptoms as some are at risk for persistent and increasing depression across college.

Research on talent development has focused on K–12 and adult eminence. This investigation addressed the gap in knowledge regarding talent development between the ages of 18 and 27. The purpose was to explain how a group of emerging adults continued to develop their writing ability into talents valued by themselves and society. The key questions investigated the role of self-perception of high ability in writing in the process of talent development as a lived experience, and the relationship of high ability to adult identity formation. The study also investigated how changes in family relationships and the establishment of independence related to talent development in emerging adulthood. It was a multiple case study of 7 creative writers from top-20 MFA programs. The study results indicated a number of findings. Development of writing talent in emerging adulthood is related to achieving adult identity and independence. Self-perception of high ability was universal, as was creativity. Achievement represented the confluence of intention, intellect, volition, knowledge, and imagination expressed as original work. The psychological process of differentiation and integration was used in adapting to achieve individual goals. Achieving identity for these writers and poets meant finding their voices. Ability was a pervasive factor in achieving identity. Parents, teachers, and peers guided and believed in the subjects’ ability. Family support was generally unconditional. Family mental health issues did not prevent talent development and fathers had a strong impact on sons and daughters. Independence was related to identity and represented having established primacy of self-authority. Contrary to theory, participants benefited from continued institutional support.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of gender, age, duration of relationship, self concept clarity and personal agency in predicting romantic relationship satisfaction of emerging adults. Participants were consisted of 344 (70.3% female, 29.7% male) volunteered undergraduate students from one of the state universities in Central Anatolia. Age of the participants ranged from 18 to 25 with the mean of 20. 85 (SD = 1.65). The data was gathered using four instruments namely, Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS), Self Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS), Multi-Measure Agentic Personality Scale- Short Form (MAPSSF), and personal information form. In order to analyze the data, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Results revealed that gender, age and duration of relationship were not significant predictors of romantic relationship satisfaction / whereas self concept clarity and purpose in life dimension of personal agency were significant predictors which explained the 12% of the total variance in romantic relationship satisfaction scores of emerging adults. Results of the study are discussed in the light of the relevant literature. Finally implications of the study and recommendations for further research are presented.

<p>Traditionally seen as a time for increasing independence and autonomy, the college experience is often the first major, long-term physical separation from parents (Chickering, 1969; Chickering & Reisser, 1993). For previous generations, living away from home provided conditions for autonomy development partially based on infrequent contact with parents. In contrast, the rapid evolution of communication technology in the recent past allows today's generation of college students to connect to their parents instantly and frequently through a variety of electronic means including cellular phone calls, text messages, emails, video chats, and social media. The current study used self-report data from 180 residential college students at a mid-sized private institution in the southeastern United States to explore parent-child communication patterns as they relate to parenting styles and the development of emotional autonomy and adjustment to college. Emotional autonomy was measured with items from the Emotional Autonomy Scale (EAS; Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986). Following Beyers, Goossens, Van Calster, & Duriez (2005), a separation scale (derived from the EAS subscales of parental deidealization, nondependence on parents, and individuation) was used as a measure of emotional autonomy. Two scales from the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (Baker & Siryk, 1989) measured students' academic and social adjustment to college.</p><p>Results indicated that, in a given week, students reported an average contact frequency (with both parents combined) of 10.92 cell phone calls, 49.88 text messages, and 6.04 email exchanges. Contact was initiated by students and parents at roughly the same rates, and females had more contact with parents than males, in general. Facebook was more popular than Twitter and Instagram for connecting with parents through social media, and the majority of students felt either neutral or positive about being "Facebook friends" with their parents. Overall, students reported high satisfaction with both the frequency and the quality of communication with their parents. Greater levels of parental closeness significantly predicted higher satisfaction with the parent-child Facebook friendship. </p><p>The relationships between the traditional parenting styles of permissive, authoritative, and authoritarian parenting (Baumrind, 1991) were investigated in relation to communication patterns, autonomy, and adjustment. Helicopter parenting was also included as a predictor variable, though it is considered separate from the traditional parenting styles (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012). Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that parents' higher scores on authoritarian parenting and helicopter parenting predicted more frequent cell phone contact with parents. Parental closeness also emerged as a significant, positive predictor of frequency of cell phone and total communication. Students who talked on their cell phones more frequently overall (not including parental contacts) tended to talk to their parents more often on the phone, and the same went for texting, as well. </p><p>Helicopter parenting also predicted lower emotional autonomy, which was in line with the only previous study of helicopter parenting in emerging adulthood (Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012). Surprisingly, authoritative and permissive parenting significantly predicted lower emotional autonomy, while authoritarian parenting was related to greater autonomy. Analyses investigating frequency of cell phone contact with parents as a moderator of this relationship indicated that more frequent phone conversations predicted decreased autonomy when parents were more authoritative. High levels of authoritarian parenting, on the other hand, resulted in higher levels of autonomy regardless of how often students talked on the phone with parents, while high contact with less authoritarian parents predicted decreased autonomy. Frequency of cell phone contact with parents was unrelated to academic and social adjustment to college. Findings are discussed in light of previous research and situated within a framework proposing that technological advances in communication have contributed to lengthening the path to adulthood.</p> / Dissertation

Research has shown that social pressure is related to treatment motivation and plays an important role in treatment engagement in adults with problematic substance use. Despite the shifts in autonomy and decision-making in emerging adulthood, the factors affecting treatment motivation (e.g., readiness to comply with treatment) and motivation to change (e.g., problem recognition and taking steps towards change) during this period have been largely ignored. In this study, 134 youth presenting to an outpatient substance abuse program completed questionnaires investigating substance use history, mental health, social pressure to reduce use and enter treatment, and motivation. Results indicated that peer pressure accounted for significant variance in internal positive and internal negative treatment motivation. Family pressure was related only to external treatment motivation. Neither social network source had a significant impact on motivation to change. Limitations, directions for future research and treatment implications are discussed.

Research has shown that social pressure is related to treatment motivation and plays an important role in treatment engagement in adults with problematic substance use. Despite the shifts in autonomy and decision-making in emerging adulthood, the factors affecting treatment motivation (e.g., readiness to comply with treatment) and motivation to change (e.g., problem recognition and taking steps towards change) during this period have been largely ignored. In this study, 134 youth presenting to an outpatient substance abuse program completed questionnaires investigating substance use history, mental health, social pressure to reduce use and enter treatment, and motivation. Results indicated that peer pressure accounted for significant variance in internal positive and internal negative treatment motivation. Family pressure was related only to external treatment motivation. Neither social network source had a significant impact on motivation to change. Limitations, directions for future research and treatment implications are discussed.

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a comprehensive examination of crime and delinquency over the early life-course through an informal social control perspective. Specifically, the dissertation examines how sources of informal social control (including family, school, work, peers, and community) influence the development of, and continuity and change in antisocial propensity and behaviour. Using a three-wave panel model with lagged and synchronous effects, estimated by a series of structural equation models, I follow a nationally representative birth cohort (born 1984-1985) from the age of 10 to the age of 19, through the first five cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY). The analyses are done in three life-stages: childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood. This study represents the first national-level examination of the influences of informal social control on the development of, and continuity and change in, crime and delinquency in Canada. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, criminal responsibility begins at age twelve. Considerable evidence shows that prior to this age, children exhibit signs of aggressive and antisocial behaviour which may lead to teenage delinquency and crime in adulthood. The theoretical foundation of my dissertation integrates age-graded informal social control theory, collective efficacy, and social disorganization theory. Traditionally, social control theories of crime such as Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime have assumed that deviance is stable over the life course. During childhood, social bonds to institutions such as the family and school teach children to internalize the norms and values of society. Deviance arises when these social bonds are weak and remains stable over the life course. Age-graded theory of informal social control by Sampson and Laub (1993) challenges the assumption of stability. This theory argues that deviant behaviour has elements of both stability (continuity) and change (discontinuity) over time. Under this life course perspective, social bonds are relevant at all life stages. Individuals may modify antisocial trajectories during adolescence or young adulthood with new age-appropriate social bonds such as a positive relationship with school or with nondelinquent peers. The results of the research confirm that antisocial propensity and behaviour are characterized by stability and change over the life course. Social bonds are the primary mechanism through which antisocial behaviours are developed or regulated, in childhood. Informal social control further mediates effects of community disorganization characteristics and family background characteristics on antisocial behaviour in childhood. There is stability in antisocial behaviour from childhood to adolescence to early adulthood, suggesting continuity in an underlying propensity. At the same time, there are changes in antisocial behaviour at each life-stage. The importance of social bonding extends beyond childhood into adolescence, as age-graded sources of informal social control contribute to changes in antisocial and delinquent behaviour. Furthermore, individuals are subject to varying levels and sources of informal social controls as they age: during childhood, informal social controls from families and school have the greatest influence on the development of antisocial behaviour, but during adolescence, school bonds and peer associations account for most of the variation in antisocial behaviour. Finally, emerging adults do not appear to be as subject to the effects of social control as children or adolescents. In emerging adulthood, changes in antisocial behaviour may be the result of a process of maturation. The results suggest that social bonds are dynamic and different sources of informal control are more or less important during different stages of the life course.