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This study examined online communication on social networking web pages in a longitudinal sample of 92 youths (39 male, 53 female). Participants' social and behavioral adjustment was assessed when they were ages 13-14 years and again at ages 20-22 years. At ages 20-22 years, participants' social networking website use and indicators of friendship quality on their web pages were coded by observers. Results suggested that youths who had been better adjusted at ages 13-14 years were more likely to be using social networking web pages at ages 20-22 years, after statistically controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and parental income. Overall, youths' patterns of peer relationships, friendship quality, and behavioral adjustment at ages 13-14 years and at ages 20-22 years predicted similar qualities of interaction and problem behavior on their social networking websites at ages 20-22 years. Findings are consistent with developmental theory asserting that youths display cross-situational continuity in their social behaviors and suggest that the conceptualization of continuity may be extended into the online domain. Keywordsonline; social networking; adolescents; friendship; peer relationships Explosive growth has occurred in online social communication (Madden, 2006), with youths disproportionately affected by this new technology (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2009). As online use increases, so too do debates about how internet-based interaction may compare with historical face-to-face ways of communicating (Bargh & McKenna, 2004;Tyler, 2002). One argument posits that internet interaction is often of lower quality than is face-toface interaction, because constraints inherent in the online medium hinder relationships. Furthermore, use of online communication may be positively correlated with adjustment problems because (a) socially inept youths are drawn to online interaction and (b) the almost inevitably poor quality of online communication increases maladjustment. An alternative argument postulates that the internet is merely a new medium for youths to display the same long-standing patterns as they do using modes other than online forms of communication, such that there is correspondence between face-to-face and online interaction styles and friendship quality. In contrast to the first argument, use of online communication may be negatively correlated with adjustment problems, because socially competent youths treat the online environment as yet another place in which to interact with existing friends and broaden their social circle. © 2010 American Psychological AssociationCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Amori Yee Mikami, 102 Gilmer Hall Box 400400, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400. Mikami@virginia.edu. NIH Public Access Developmental Context of Social CommunicationCharacterizations of youths' social relationships in the internet medium, as well as the investigation of continuity between face-to-face and online social ...

This study used longitudinal, multi-reporter data, in a community sample, to examine the role of rejection sensitivity in late adolescents’ social and emotional development. Rejection sensitivity was linked to a relative increase in adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms over a three-year period, even after accounting for teens’ baseline level of social competence. Additionally, reciprocal relationships emerged between rejection sensitivity and internalizing symptoms. Rejection sensitivity was also linked to relative decreases in peer-reports of teens’ social competence over a three-year period. Consistent with research on gendered socialization, males reported higher levels of rejection sensitivity than females at age 16 and 17. Results are interpreted as highlighting the importance of rejection sensitivity in understanding late adolescent social and emotional development.

The relation of attachment states of mind and self reported attachment relationship styles to romantic partner aggression was examined in a community sample of 93 adolescents. Higher levels of insecure-preoccupied and insecure-dismissing states of mind, as assessed by the Adolescent Attachment Interview at age 14, were predictive, respectively, of perpetration and victimization of psychological aggression in romantic relationships four years later. Partners' romantic attachment anxiety was linked to both psychological and physical aggression perpetration in romantic relationships. Results are interpreted as suggesting the value of assessing aggression in adolescent romantic relationships in the context of broader patterns of regulation of affect and behavior via the attachment system. Keywords insecure attachment; partner aggression; romantic relationships; adolescence; working models As attachment research has developed, two approaches to understanding and assessing attachment-related affect and cognitions have emerged. One approach is generally utilized in the social and personality psychology literature, and places a focus on self-reported thoughts and feelings of self and others in the romantic context (Hazan & Shaver, 1987;Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). The other approach is generally emphasized in developmental psychology, and utilizes attachment interviews to assess internal representations of attachment based on the coherence and consistency of their description of early caregiver experiences (Furman, Simon, Shaffer, & Bouchey, 2002;Furman & Wehner, 1994;George, Kaplan & Main, 1996). Although interview techniques that tap mental representations of relationships have shown great value, particularly in beginning to counter social-desirability biases from self-report data, (Furman et al, 2002;Jacobvitz, Curran, & Moller, 2002;Main. Hesse, & Goldwyn, 2008), individuals' explicit and consciously-reportable expectations about intimate relationships are also likely to have important meaning in understanding social behavior.Attachment styles that tap self-reported behaviors and expectations in the romantic context might be more directly related to maladaptive relationship dynamics because these measures are romantic relationship-specific. Recent findings from both a recent meta-analysis and additional study have demonstrated that the empirical overlap between interview based attachment representations and self reported romantic attachment styles is only trivial to Correspondence concerning this study should be sent to the first author at Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400 (erinmiga@virginia.edu).. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAttach Hum Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 September 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript small (Fortuna & Roisman, 2008;Roisman et al., 2007), suggesting that each tradition of attachment research captures relatively independent aspects of cognition and affect in a...

This prospective study used longitudinal, multi-reporter data to examine the influence of parents' marital relationship functioning on subsequent adolescent romantic relationships. Consistent with Bryant and Conger's model for the development of early adult romantic relationships (DEARR; 2002), we found that interactional styles, more specifically paternal aggression and satisfaction, exhibited in parents' marital relationship when their adolescents were age 13, were predictive of qualities of the adolescent's romantic relationships five years later. Continuities were domain specific: paternal satisfaction predicted adolescent satisfaction and paternal aggression predicted adolescent aggression. Attachment security moderated the link between paternal aggression and subsequent adolescent aggression, with continuities between negative conflictual styles across relationships reduced for secure adolescents. Results are interpreted as suggesting that attachment may help attenuated the transmission of destructive conflict strategies across generations.