Emotion regulation is an important skill to acquire during childhood, as an inability to do so can lead to negative outcomes such as aggression, anxiety, eating disorders, and personality disorders during adolescence. Much research has demonstrated that maternal factors play a role in childhood emotion regulation; however, little research has looked at how these factors might predict emotion regulation during adolescence. Therefore, my thesis study assessed how maternal personality, parenting behaviors, and emotion regulation during middle childhood and adolescence predicted adolescent emotion regulation. Specifically, I hypothesized that maternal parenting behaviors during middle childhood would positively predict adolescent cognitive reappraisal, that this association would be moderated by maternal intrapersonal and interpersonal personality, and that maternal cognitive reappraisal during middle childhood would positively predict adolescent cognitive reappraisal. Participants included 122 mother-child dyads who provided data on parenting and maternal emotion regulation when the children were 9-years-old, in addition to data on child emotion regulation, maternal emotion regulation, and maternal personality when the children were adolescents. My initial hypotheses were not supported by the data, but post-hoc analyses revealed that maternal emotion suppression during middle childhood and adolescence predicts adolescent emotion suppression and that this association between maternal emotion suppression during middle childhood and adolescent emotion suppression was moderated by maternal intrapersonal personality. These results support the idea that maternal characteristics continue to play a role in shaping emotion regulation in children through adolescence, but not in the manner I had originally predicted. / M.S. / Emotion regulation refers to our ability to adjust to changes in our emotions. Difficulty with emotion regulation early in life can lead to negative outcomes such as aggression, anxiety, eating disorders, and personality disorders later in life. Maternal factors, like parenting, emotion regulation, and personality, affect emotion regulation during early childhood, but the research is lacking when it comes to looking at how these maternal factors might predict emotion regulation abilities during adolescence. This is important to consider, as adolescence is a time when we see some of these negative outcomes associated with difficulties in emotion regulation emerge. Therefore, my thesis study looked at how these maternal factors during middle childhood and adolescence predicted adolescent emotion regulation. Specifically, I hypothesized that optimal maternal parenting behaviors during middle childhood would predict better adolescent emotion regulation, that maternal personality during adolescence would moderate this association, and that better maternal emotion regulation during middle childhood would predict better emotion regulation during adolescence. Participants included 122 mother-child dyads. Mothers provided data on parenting and their own emotion regulation when their children were 9-years-old and data on their own personality and emotion regulation when the children were adolescents. Adolescents self-reported their own emotion regulation. My initial hypotheses were not supported, later analyses showed that maternal emotion regulation during middle childhood predicted adolescent emotion regulation and that this association was moderated by maternal personality. These results support the idea that maternal characteristics continue to play a role in shaping emotion regulation in children through adolescence.

This study was conducted with the recognition that adolescence is a developmental stage in the human life cycle and that during this stage adolescents have unique outdoor needs and preferences. In general, the social and emotional needs of adolescents require that their environments provide opportunity for companionship. Within this context, the purpose of this study was to provide designers with information that can be used to assess environmental preferences. With this information at hand, a landscape architect can begin to understand the intricacies of designing a place for adolescents that supports their developmental needs and will be a place that they enjoy. This study was a partial replication of a study Venues and Values conducted by Patsy Eubanks Owens (1987) in which the valued spaces of suburban teens in California were explored. Rather than studying suburban adolescents, this study focuses on rural adolescents in a southwest Virginia town. Adolescents at a local high school are used as the subjects for this study. They were asked to take photographs of their two most valued outdoor spaces. A questionnaire was then given to each student to gain information about characteristics of each valued space. This study was a partial replication of a study Venues and Values conducted by Patsy Eubanks Owens (1987) in which the valued spaces of suburban teens in California were explored. Rather than studying suburban adolescents, this study focuses on rural adolescents in a southwest Virginia town. Adolescents at a local high school are used as the subjects for this study. They were asked to take photographs of their two most valued outdoor spaces. A questionnaire was then given to each student to gain information about characteristics of each valued space. / Master of Landscape Architecture

One of the problems in human relationships is to determine what factors enter into friendship. One method of investigating this is to study traits as compared between reciprocal and unreciprocal friendships. This present study is an effort to make contributions towards this problem.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Intimate and satisfying relationships in adolescence are connected to mental health and well-being and have significant implications for adolescent psychosocial development. Despite the benefits of romantic involvement, research into adolescents’ experiences within their romantic relationships is limited. Few studies on adolescent intimacy experiences, especially those leading to conceptualizations of intimacy, have been undertaken. The majority of studies that have been conducted on adolescents’ intimacy experiences have been conducted in White, Euro-American, middle-class samples, using quantitative methodology and researchers’ definitions of the construct. In South Africa adolescent romantic relationships are often studied because of their links with pressing social issues, such as teenage pregnancy, intimate partner violence and risky sexual behaviour and HIV/AIDS, rather than for the value of understanding the relationships themselves. The resultant negative constructions of adolescent romance in research literature serve to continue the narrow scope of inquiry into adolescent intimate relationships and also limit the ability of professionals and care-givers to respond to the relationship challenges of South African youth. The present study was aimed at addressing some of the limitations of previous research on adolescent romantic relationship experiences, with a particular focus on intimacy. Coloured adolescents from a low-income, semi-rural community in the Western Cape were selected as participants for the inquiry due to the overwhelming lack of knowledge about the constructions of intimacy in this group. Social constructionism was used as a theoretical framework to ground and inform the study. The research objective was to develop an understanding of the constructions and experiences of intimacy of middle adolescents within the specific target community. A social constructionist grounded theory method was used. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 young men and women. The social constructionist grounded theory analysis indicated that participants appeared to strive toward having ideal relationships as portrayed in the Western popular media. Participants’ constructions of intimacy centred on behaviour rather than on abstract, emotional experience, Their relationship experiences and behaviours reflected discourses of gendered romantic relationship interaction, with boys emphasizing commitment and girls focusing on “doing emotion work” as pathways to experiencing and expressing intimacy. The researcher raises the possibility that adolescent boy’s and girl’s striving toward ideal Western relationships, media and peer reinforcement of these ideal relationships and adolescents’ specific developmental cognitive limitations may limit their capacity for knowing themselves and their partners in their romantic relationships and contribute to inauthenticity in romantic relationships. As Western mainstream intimacy discourses stress the importance of self and partner knowledge, as well as authenticity in romantic relationships, these discourses therefore make it difficult to recognize and validate adolescents’ intimacy experiences. In fact these discourses imply that adolescents have a limited ability to experience intimacy. The researcher argues that by situating intimacy in the context of behaviours rather than emotional experience, understandings of intimacy can move beyond the essentialist depictions of what is and is not intimate, thus allowing for a range of behaviours to count as intimate, broadening the possibilities for conceptualizing and acknowledging intimacy. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Intieme en bevredigende verhoudings in adolessensie is verbind aan geestelike gesondheid en welsyn en het beduidende implikasies vir die adolessent se psigososiale ontwikkeling Ten spyte hiervan, is navorsingoor adolessentese ervaringsin hulromantiese verhoudingsbeperk. Minstudies ooradolessenteintimiteit, veral dié wat lei totbegrippevanintimiteit, isonderneem.Diemeerderheid van studiesooradolessente seintimiteitservaringsis uitgevoer inWit,Euro-Amerikaanse, middelklas steekproewe. In Suid-Afrika word adolessente se romantiese verhoudings dikwels bestudeervanweehul assosiasie met dreigende sosiale kwessies soos tienerswangerskappe, intieme maatgeweld, riskante seksuele gedrag en MIV/VIGS, eerder as vir die waarde van die begrip van die verhoudings self. Die gevolglike negatiewe konstruksies van adolessente se romantiese betrokkenheid dra by tot die beperkte fokus en omvang van ondersoekeoor adolessente se romantiese verhoudings, en ook die beperkte vermoë van professionele mense en versorgers om te reageer op die verhoudingsuitdagings van die Suid-Afrikaanse jeug te beperk. Die huidige studie was daarop gemik om van die beperkings van vorige navorsing oor adolessente se romantiese verhoudingservarings, met 'n besondere fokus op intimiteit, aan te spreek. Kleurling adolessente van 'n semi-landelike gemeenskap in die Wes Kaap is gekies as deelnemers as gevolg van die oorweldigende gebrek aan kennis oor die konstruksie van intimiteit in hierdie groep. ‘nSosiaal-konstruktionistiese raamwerk is gebruik om die studie te begrond en te rig. Die navorsingsdoelwit was om 'n begrip van die ervarings van intimiteit van middel-adolessente binne die spesifieke teikengemeenskap te ontwikkel. Hierdie doel is bereik deur gebruik te maak van 'n sosiaal-konstruksionistiese gegrondeteoriemetode.In-diepte onderhoude is gevoer met 20 adolessente mans en vrouens. Die sosiaal konstruktionistiese gegronde teorie analise het aangedui dat deelnemers se konstruksies van intimiteit gedrag eerder as emosionele ervaring in hul intimiteitsvertellings beklemtoon het. Hul verhouding ervarings en gedrag weerspieël diskoerse van geslagtelike romantiese verhoudinginteraksie met seuns wattoewyding en meisies wat die "doen van emosie werk" beklemtoon as roetes na intimiteit. Deelnemers blyk om te streef na ideale verhoudings soos uitgebeeld is in die Wes-populêre media, duer ‘n behoefte om in te pas en aanvaar te word deur hul eweknieë. Hierdie proses kan deelnemers lei om op te tree en hulle gedagtes oor romantiese verhoudings uit te spreek in ooreenstemming met wat algemeen aanvaar word binne hul portuurgroep, eerder as in die maniere wat hulle eie oortuigings, begrip en begeertes weerspieël. Hierdie proses lei tot 'n beperkte kennis en bewustheid van die self as' n romantiese vennoot sowel as 'n neiging tot onoutentieke grdrag in romantiese verhoudings. Hierdie beperkte self-bewustheid en onoutentieke gedrag inhibeer dan adolessente se vermoë om intimiteit te ervaar wanneer dit volgens die hoofstroom konstruksies daarvan beskou is. Die bevindinge dui op die behoefte aan die gebruik van breër definisies van intimiteit in die oorweging van adolessente romantiese verhoudings, die bou van alternatiewe diskoerse van intimiteit en‘n verhoging van leiding deur volwassenes ten opsigte vanadoloesente se romantiese verhoudings Sekere beperkings van die huidige navorsing het ook verwys na 'n behoefte aan meer navorsing oor die invloed van' n wyer kontekstuele faktore in adolessente se konstruksies van intimiteit.

Self-injury behavior is identified as the non-suicidal, deliberate infliction of a wound to oneself in an attempt to seek expression. Self-injury is becoming more prevalent in the adolescent population; however, many nursing professionals are unaware of this phenomenon and the implications it holds for nursing. Approximately 12 to 17 percent of adolescents deliberately injure themselves although accurate statistics are difficult to obtain due to the secret and private nature of the behavior. Nurses, especially those who care for adolescents, could benefit from an understanding of the implications of self-injury, the characteristics of adolescents who self-injure, the expressivity of the behavior, and the repetitive patterns of the emotions experienced by adolescents who self-injure. Six adolescent females were interviewed for this study. Their stories were shared in rich, descriptive narratives. Common themes emerged from the words of the participants and these themes described the essence of self-injury by cutting for adolescent females. The themes which emerged were living with childhood trauma, feeling abandoned, being an outsider, loathing self, silently screaming, releasing the pressure, feeling alive, being ashamed, and being hopeful for self and others. The general structure that emerged from a synthesis of the themes was that the experience of self-injury by cutting for adolescent females is one where they are struggling for well-being and hoping for more being by using their skin as a canvas upon which internal pain is expressed as tangible and real. / by Rhonda Goodman Lesniak. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

O presente estudo teve como objetivo conhecer e analisar as vivências e os significados em torno da paternidade, durante a adolescência, para homens que vivenciaram esse fenômeno, buscando identificar os significados atribuídos por esses homens a essa vivência, reconhecer em suas vivências relativas à sexualidade e à reprodução como se operam as relações de gênero e distinguir como percebem as influências familiares frente ao processo de gravidez e paternidade adolescentes. A pesquisa foi realizada com sete homens na faixa etária de 21 a 34 anos de idade que foram pais entre 14 e 19 anos, moradores de bairros periféricos de Cuiabá-MT, no período de março a maio de 2004. Considerando o objeto de estudo, foi utilizado o recurso da pesquisa qualitativa empregando a técnica de história de vida para realizar o levantamento de dados. Ao final da coleta de informações, tínhamos aproximadamente 200 folhas de informações que foram trabalhadas com a aplicação da técnica de análise de conteúdo baseada na proposta de Romeu Gomes. Com a técnica de análise de conteúdo, identificamos três núcleos temáticos que são: paternidade na adolescência: vivências e significados atribuídos; adolescência: vivências e exercício da sexualidade e reprodução a partir das relações de gênero; influências familiares nas vivências relativas aos processos da gravidez e paternidade na adolescência. Após a análise dos dados, concluimos que o exercício da paternidade por adolescentes conforma-se como uma experiência positiva, plena de emoções, e que, se vivenciada em sua plenitude, cultivando os afetos, vivenciando o cuidar, o educar e o tocar resultará em uma relação transformadora para jovens em processo de desenvolvimento. / The author aimed at learning about the meanings of fatherhood during adolescence for men who had this experience. This study looked at identifying the meanings for men who had this experience, the meanings they give to this phenomenon, identifying their experiences related to sexuality and reproduction as well as their gender relations and how they perceive the family influences regarding the pregnancy process and fatherhood. Seven men from 21 to 34 years of age who were fathers from 14 to 19 years of age participated in the study. They lived in a suburb of the city of Cuiabá-MT. Data were collected from March to May, 2004. Considering that the object of this study was used as a resource of a qualitative research, the author used the life history technique in order to collect data. In the end of the data collection process, the author had 200 pages of information that were analyzed based on the content analysis technique proposed by Romeu Gomes. The content analysis resulted in three thematic groups: fatherhood in adolescence: experiences and meanings; adolescence: experiences, sexuality and reproduction considering gender relations; family influences in experiences related to pregnancy and fatherhood in adolescence. Findings showed that the fatherhood in adolescence can be a positive experience, full of emotions if completely experienced, enabling men to experience the care, education and touch resulting in a relation of transformation for adolescents who are in a developing process.

During a period of increased independence from parents, youth turn to peers for support, and consequently become more vulnerable to peer pressure (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986). During middle adolescence, vulnerability to peer influence begins to decline (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). Empirical research has documented this trend in vulnerability to peer pressure across adolescence, but less attention has been afforded to the age-related changes in similarity. To address this, age-related changes in peer similarity in delinquency across the adolescent years were examinded using intraclass correlations. Moderating variables, including gender, reciprocity, and closeness, and control variables, including friendship stability and romantic partner status, were examined. Results indicated an increase in friend similarity in delinquency from 5th to 7th grade and a decrease in similarity from 7th to 9th grade. Implications of this study are discussed in terms of contribution to the field and implementation of the findings. / by Ashley D. Richmond. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2012. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Close friends have been shown to influence adolescent problem behaviors, especially alcohol abuse (Urberg, Degirmencioglu, and Pilgrim, 1997). The degree of influence, however varies as a function of individual characteristics such as peer acceptance (Laursen, Hafen, Kerr, and Stattin, 2012) and age (Popp et al., 2008). The present study examines whether differences in influence extend to perceptions of friendship quality. Using a sample of 764 Swedish adolescents involved in stable samesex reciprocal best friend relationships that lasted at least one year, analyses used distinguishable dyad actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) analyses (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006) to track influence over two years of the friendship. More satisfied friends were more influential than less satisfied friends on intoxication frequency and truancy. The findings of this study indicate that influence accompanies perceptions of quality. Those with higher perceptions of quality exhibit more influence on friends who perceive relatively lower quality. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013.

A sequential design characterized by a mixture of a cross-sectional and a nine-month follow-up longitudinal design was used to allow both between and within groups comparisons. Two schools using the "through-train mode" for school promotion were invited to participate in order to ensure that follow-up measures could be made. A total of 405 schoolchildren (213 boys, 192 girls) completed the study, with 144 in the G5-6 group (i.e., grade promotion from Grade 5 to Grade 6), 142 in the G6-7 group (i.e., school transition from Grade 6 to Grade 7), and 119 in the G7-8 group (i.e., grade promotion from Grade 7 to Grade 8). The creative thinking, stress levels, and conventionality in thinking of the participants were measured using three parallel forms of the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP), Stress Appraisal Measures (SAM), and the Conventionality Test at 3 time-points (i.e., before, during, and after promotion to a new school or higher grade). / In the fast-changing modern world, creativity has become increasingly important for dealing with complex problems and opportunities. Improving creativity is therefore important for both individuals and societies. Studying creativity development can help us to infer the contributing factors that may hinder or enhance creativity. Studies on creativity development during childhood and adolescence have suggested that a creativity slump is a special, but common, phenomenon. Yet it remains unclear why a creativity slump occurs at a specific age or at a specific time of development. The present dissertation provides a direct empirical comparison of two competing hypotheses on the creativity slump. The school transition stress hypothesis, drawn from the continuity or experience perspective of human development, suggests that a creativity slump is related to the stress associated with school transition, whereas the cognitive-developmental hypothesis, which takes the stage perspective of human development, suggests that the conventional thinking stage inhibits the expression of creativity and is hence conducive to a slump. The explanatory power of these two theoretical perspectives in relation to a creativity slump was tested by addressing the research question as to whether a creativity slump would still occur if school transition occurred at the cognitive stage that is beyond the conventional thinking stage (i.e., the postconventional thinking stage). The study explicitly compared the relative contribution of stress appraisal and conventionality in thinking to creativity development. / In the present study, it was found that a creativity slump still occurred when school transition took place during the postconventional thinking stage, lending support to the school transition stress hypothesis, but not to the cognitive-developmental hypothesis, regarding a creativity slump at school transition. We further clarified the specific roles of cognitive appraisals of stress in relation to creativity. Negative stress appraisals (i.e., appraising school life as threatening) were negatively predictive of creativity, whereas positive stress appraisals (i.e., appraising school life as challenging and controllable) were positively predictive of creativity. Regarding the role of level of conventionality in thinking in creativity, the results suggest that although postconventional thinking has a positive effect on creative thinking, its effect on creative thinking is significantly mediated by stress appraisals. The results also showed individual differences in experiencing a creativity slump. The statistic that only 44.4% of the students in the school transition group experienced a slump lends support to the idea that a creativity slump is neither overwhelming nor unavoidable. In accounting for these individual differences, stress appraisal variables were found to be the significant predictors when both the stress appraisal and conventionality in thinking variables were included in the logistic regression equation to predict the occurrence of a slump. / The present dissertation contributes to the current literature by offering empirical evidence to address the explanatory power of the cognitive-relational theory of stress and the cognitive-developmental perspective in relation to the existence of a creativity slump. The findings suggest that the major factors that are detrimental to creative thinking at school transition are negative appraisals and lack of positive appraisals on school life (i.e., viewing school life as more threatening, less challenging, and less controllable). These findings are helpful for understanding the critical factors that either facilitate or hinder the development of creativity in schoolchildren, which, in turn, could shed further light on effective creativity education. / He Wu, Jing. / Adviser: Wan Chi Wong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-138). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; form A-C, appendix III in Chinese.

Bibliography: leaves 156-165. Electronic publication; full text available in PDF format; abstract in HTML format. Several researchers have indicated that the emphasis placed by young people on body shape and appearance has been greatly shaped by the media. The aim of this research was to investigate this notion specifically with regard to televised media. It was hypothesised that there would be a relationship between media images, eating attitudes and dietary behaviours, particularly for teenagers with body-image self-schemas who were conscious of their appearance. Nine hundred and sixty five senior secondary school students, from 33 country and metropolitan, state and independent, co-educational and single-sex South Australian high schools were surveyed. Electronic reproduction.[Australia] :Australian Digital Theses Program,2001.