Parental Autonomy Support in the Context of Parent–Child Negotiation for Children’s Independent Mobility: ‘I Always Feel Safer With My Parents’ to ‘Boom! Bust Down Those Walls!’

Autonomy – acting volitionally with a sense of choice – is a crucial right for children. Given parents’ pivotal position in their child’s autonomy development, we examined how parental autonomy support and children’s need for autonomy were negotiated and manifested in the context of children’s independent mobility – children’s ability to play, walk or cycle unsupervised. We interviewed 105 Canadian children between 10 and 13-years-old and their parents ( n = 135) to examine child-parents’ negotiation patterns as to children’s independent mobility. Four patterns emerged, varying on parental autonomy support and children’s need/motivation for independent mobility: (1) child/parent dyad wants to increase independent mobility; (2) child only wants to increase independent mobility while parents do not; (3) child does not want to increase independent mobility while parents do; and (4) child/parent dyad does not want to increase independent mobility. Findings illuminate the importance of recognizing children as active and capable agents of change.

Early Adolescents’ Social Goals in Peer Conflict Situations: A Mixed Methods Study

Identification of goals is a key social-cognitive process that guides whether adolescents engage in aggressive or nonviolent behavior during social conflicts. This study investigated early adolescents’ goals in response to hypothetical social conflict situations involving close friends and peers. Participants ( n = 160; Mage = 12.7, 53% female) were 7th graders from two urban and one rural middle school. On average, participants identified 2.5 goals for each situation. Qualitative analysis using a grounded theory approach identified nine themes representing the goals generated by participants: instrumental-control, relationship maintenance, maintain image and reputation/self-defense, conflict avoidance, seek more information, revenge, tension reduction, moral, and stay out of trouble. Quantitative analysis indicated that female participants identified more goals than male participants, but there were few differences in their types of goals. There were few differences across school sites. The findings highlight the variety of social goals specific to the developmental period of early adolescence.

Investigating Affective Responding to Daily Positive Events Among Adolescents Using Ecological Momentary Assessment

The experience of positive events is associated with increased positive affect, which can beneficially impact the physical and mental health outcomes of adolescents. Despite an increase in important life events during adolescence, little research has examined the influence of positive events on affect in this population. This study used Ecological Momentary Assessment to investigate individual differences in the effects of daily positive events on momentary positive and negative affect and event-specific positive affect among 136 adolescents ( M age = 13.03 years). Results indicated that interpersonal and independent events elicited greater event-specific positive affect than non-interpersonal and dependent events. Dependent interpersonal events were associated with the greatest positive affect compared to other combinations of event types. Gender did not moderate these effects. These findings may address the gap in the literature regarding the types of daily positive events that elicit the most positive affect in adolescents, and in turn, may enhance well-being.

The Buffering Effect of Perceived Parental Social Support in the Longitudinal Relationship Between Homophobic Cyberbullying and LGBTQIA Adolescents’ Health Outcomes

This 1-year longitudinal study examined the moderating effect of perceived parental social support in the associations between homophobic cyberbullying involvement (victimization and bystanding) and suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-harm, and subjective health complaints among 467 adolescents ( Mage = 13.81 years; 59% female) who identified as LGBTQIA. Results showed that homophobic cyberbullying involvement were both related positively to suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-harm, and subjective health complaints 1 year later. Parental support did not moderate the relationship between homophobic cyberbullying involvement and subjective health complaints. However, parental support moderated the relationship between homophobic cyberbullying involvement (both victimization and bystanding) and suicidal ideation and non-suicidal self-harm. Hence, the present study highlights the need for more research on homophobic cyberbullying, the crucial role parents can play in mitigating negative outcomes of involvement in homophobic cyberbullying, and the development of inclusive anti-cyberbullying prevention programs that acknowledge the needs of LGBTQIA adolescents.

How is Online Disinhibition Related to Adolescents’ Cyberbullying Perpetration? Empathy and Gender as Moderators

The present study examined the relationship between online disinhibition and adolescents’ cyberbullying perpetration and investigated whether empathy and gender would moderate this relationship. A total of 2407 Chinese adolescents aged 11–16 years completed the questionnaires to measure their online disinhibition, empathy, and cyberbullying perpetration. Results indicated that high levels of online disinhibition were associated with high levels of cyberbullying perpetration, even after controlling for key covariates related to cyberbullying perpetration. Empathy significantly moderated the relationship between online disinhibition and cyberbullying perpetration. Specifically, this relationship was not significant at high levels of empathy. Moreover, the impact of empathy was moderated by gender. For male adolescents, online disinhibition was significantly associated with cyberbullying perpetration only when their empathy was low. For female adolescents, the relationship between online disinhibition and cyberbullying perpetration became nonsignificant, regardless of whether they had a low or high level of empathy.

Adolescents’ Lockdown-Induced Coping Experiences (ALICE) Study: A Qualitative Exploration of Early Adolescents’ Experiences of Lockdown and Reintegration

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences and perceived impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns among early adolescents in the northwest of England, as well as explore the self-care and coping strategies that helped the young people continue to thrive. Fourteen adolescents, 9 boys and 5 girls, were recruited from four secondary schools in North West England. Remote online interviews were conducted. Inductive reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data and four themes were identified: (1) change: ‘life feels weird’; (2) embracing lockdown; (3) feelings of loss; and (4) stress, worry and challenge. Processes identified will be able to help inform policy and practice for supporting adolescents in the future, including the promotion of positive coping strategies and the provision of resources for young people, schools and families.

Be a Little Rude, but not too Much: Exploring Classroom Incivility and Social Network Position in Adolescents

Classroom incivility is a critical concept relating to the academic and psychosocial well-being of children and youth. However, there has yet to be research investigating whether there are social benefits to this behavior in early adolescence. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore the relationship between classroom incivility and measures of social network position, including incoming and mutual friendships, two forms of centrality, and social network prestige. We investigated network position of 488 students between the ages of 9 and 14 ( M = 11.48; SD = 1.14). Our findings highlight a general negative curvilinear association between classroom incivility and social network position. Specifically, children and youth who engage in moderate levels of classroom incivility have more friends and are leaders in the group (higher network prestige). In contrast, those who engage in higher or lower levels of classroom incivility have fewer friends and are less prestigious.

Bias-Based Cyberaggression in Northwestern Mexican Adolescents: Associations With Moral Disengagement

Although there is a body of literature that addresses victimization of adolescents based on their membership in stigmatized groups, there is little that focuses on this type of aggression delivered digitally. Furthermore, the extant literature typically focuses on the targets of such aggression, but scant attention has been paid to the aggressors. To address this gap, the current study investigated characteristics of perpetrators of bias-based cyberaggression in a sample of 554 self-reported cyber-aggressors among 1695 12- to15-year-old adolescents in northwestern Mexico. Approximately one-fourth of these cyber-aggressors engaged in bias-based cyberaggression. Demographic characteristics were investigated in an attempt to describe those most at risk for perpetration of bias-based aggression. In addition, the influence of moral disengagement was examined in this unique sample. Results showed that cyber-aggressors who were male and younger were disproportionately represented among those whose cyberaggression was motivated by some type of bias. Bias-based cyberaggression was associated with higher levels of several types of moral disengagement. Possible explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.