Highly sensitive adolescent benefits in positive school transitions: Evidence for vantage sensitivity in Japanese high-schoolers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhei Iimura
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
School Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Crossover Point ◽  
Japanese Adolescents ◽  
Highly Sensitive

Some researchers indicate that the transition to high school deflects adolescent developmental trajectories. Others assert it provides a new possibility for the promotion of adolescents’ socioemotional well-being. One critical view missing in such claims is that individual variabilities interact with environmental influences. We employed the framework of Differential Susceptibility Theory, which postulates that individual susceptibilities moderate external influences for better and for worse. In order to clarify the mechanism of adolescents’ differential adjustments, this paper investigated the role of sensory-processing sensitivity using the Japanese version of Highly Sensitive Child Scale for Adolescence (J-HSCS), and tested whether the diathesis-stress model or the differential susceptibility model best describes students’ socioemotional adjustment across their high school transition. The current paper used the two-wave data collected from Japanese adolescents aged from 14 to 15 years (n = 412, 50% girls). In Study 1, we investigated the replicability of psychometric properties of J-HSCS. The results supported previous findings, indicating its validity for the bifactor model. In Study 2, we utilized confirmatory competitive model testing, which maximizes statistical power by parameterizing the crossover point to allow a direct comparison of alternative models. The results indicated that neither the diathesis-stress nor the differential susceptibility models fitted the data. Rather, a strong vantage sensitivity model was revealed, suggesting that highly susceptible adolescents disproportionately benefitted from a positive school transition over their counterparts. This finding signified the role of adolescents’ sensitivity to environmental influences and the importance of considering its moderation under person x environment interactions.

The Consequences of Friend-Related Stress Across Early Adolescence

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-272
Author(s):  
Aprile D. Benner ◽  
Yang Hou ◽  
Kristina M. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
High School Transition ◽  
School Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Risky Behaviors ◽  
Transition To High School ◽  
School Students ◽  
Related Stress

The current study investigated early adolescents’ experiences of friend-related stress across middle school and its developmental consequences following the transition to high school. Using a sample of approximately 1,000 middle school students, four unique friend-related stress trajectories were observed across middle school: consistently low friend-related stress (57% of the sample), consistently high friend-related stress (7%), moderate and increasing friend-related stress (22%), and moderate but decreasing friend-related stress (14%). Groups characterized by higher levels of friend-related stress across middle school were linked to subsequent poorer socioemotional well-being, lower academic engagement, and greater involvement in and expectancies around risky behaviors following the transition to high school. Increased friend-related stress across the high school transition was also linked to poorer outcomes, even after taking into account earlier stress trajectories. Gender differences highlighted the particular struggles girls experience both in friend stress and in the links between friend stress and subsequent well-being.

Differential susceptibility to environmental influences: the role of early temperament and parenting in the development of externalizing problems

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 650-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Pitzer ◽  
Christine Jennen-Steinmetz ◽  
Guenter Esser ◽  
Martin H. Schmidt ◽  
Manfred Laucht
Keyword(s):  
Externalizing Problems ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Differential Susceptibility

The Different Role of Mentor Support Along the High-School Dropout Process

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 981-1008
Author(s):  
Yael Itzhaki
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Dropouts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
School Dropouts ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mentor Support ◽  
A Minor

This study examined the contribution of mentor support to the following aspects of high-school dropouts’ lives: the personal (self-esteem, and the process of becoming less religious [BLR]), social (societal conditional positive and negative regard) and psychological (well-being and loneliness). The study, conducted among Ultraorthodox Jewish males, included 261 participants, aged 14 years to 21 years ( M = 17, SD = 1.17), who were at different stages in the dropout process. Findings indicated a significant difference in the contribution of mentor support. Among youths still in their yeshiva high schools, mentor support made only a minor contribution to the process of BLR; for youths in a program for dropouts, mentor support made a positive contribution to most aspects of their lives. However, among dropouts, mentor support contributed negatively to all aspects that were examined in the current study. Findings highlight the importance of further illuminating the role of mentor support and adapting it to youths’ needs.

scholarly journals Differential Susceptibility to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Working Memory, Empathy, and Perceived Stress: The Role of Cortisol and Resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 348
Author(s):  
Shishir Baliyan ◽  
José Manuel Cimadevilla ◽  
Silvia de Vidania ◽  
Matías M. Pulopulos ◽  
Carmen Sandi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Diurnal Cortisol ◽  
Potential Biomarker ◽  
The Impact

There are important individual differences in adaptation and reactivity to stressful challenges. Being subjected to strict social confinement is a distressful psychological experience leading to reduced emotional well-being, but it is not known how it can affect the cognitive and empathic tendencies of different individuals. Cortisol, a key glucocorticoid in humans, is a strong modulator of brain function, behavior, and cognition, and the diurnal cortisol rhythm has been postulated to interact with environmental stressors to predict stress adaptation. The present study investigates in 45 young adults (21.09 years old, SD = 6.42) whether pre-pandemic diurnal cortisol indices, overall diurnal cortisol secretion (AUCg) and cortisol awakening response (CAR) can predict individuals’ differential susceptibility to the impact of strict social confinement during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on working memory, empathy, and perceived stress. We observed that, following long-term home confinement, there was an increase in subjects’ perceived stress and cognitive empathy scores, as well as an improvement in visuospatial working memory. Moreover, during confinement, resilient coping moderated the relationship between perceived stress scores and pre-pandemic AUCg and CAR. In addition, in mediation models, we observed a direct effect of AUCg and an indirect effect of both CAR and AUCg, on change in perceived self-efficacy. These effects were parallelly mediated by the increase in working memory span and cognitive empathy. In summary, our findings reveal the role of the diurnal pattern of cortisol in predicting the emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting a potential biomarker for the identification of at-risk groups following public health crises.

scholarly journals Developmental Trajectories of Event Centrality and Socio-Emotional Well-Being after Transition to High School

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhei Iimura
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
High School Transition ◽  
School Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Event Centrality

The transition from junior high or middle school to high school can be a stressful turning point for youth development. The role of individual differences in susceptibility to the transition in well-being remains unclear. The current study examined the developmental relation between how central the high school transition is to a student’s identity or life course (i.e., event centrality) and well-being after transition. High school students, including cohorts in 10th to 12th grade (n = 2,265, Mage at Time 1 = 15.9 years, SDage = 0.9 years), participated in a four-wave longitudinal survey for a year, and completed questionnaires assessing event centrality and well-being. Latent growth curve modeling revealed obvious individual differences in the developmental trajectory of event centrality regarding high school transition across the 10th to 12th grades. Increase in the centrality of transition was closely associated with improvement in well-being for each grade progression. Based on our findings, developmental researchers should assume individual differences in the degree to which the school transition becomes a turning point in a student’s identity or life course to shed further light on the relation between school transition and adjustment.

scholarly journals Highly Sensitive Adolescents: The Relationship Between Weekly Life Events and Weekly Socioemotional Well-Being

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhei Iimura
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
The Relationship

Recent research into Person x Environment interaction has supported the view that sensitivity to environmental influences is a susceptibility factor rather than a vulnerability factor. Given this perspective, this study examined the role of the adolescent’s sensory-processing sensitivity in the context of weekly life events and weekly socioemotional well-being. In the study, 114 adolescents repeatedly self-reported their sensitivity, recent life events, and recent socioemotional well-being in four surveys at one-week intervals. The results suggested the shape of Sensitivity x Life Events interaction significantly varied from week to week, which is consistent with the vantage sensitivity and diathesis-stress framework. In specific weeks, adolescents with high sensitivity are more likely to benefit from positive events than those with low sensitivity. These sensitive adolescents can be described as developmentally susceptibility rather than vulnerability.

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