The extent to which peer influences on substance use in adolescence systematically vary in strength based on qualities of the adolescent and his or her close friend was assessed in a study of 157 adolescents (Age: M = 13.35, SD = 0.64), their close friends and their parents assessed longitudinally with a combination of observational, analogue, sociometric, and self-report measures from early to mid-adolescence. The degree to which adolescents changed their levels of substance use in accord with their peers' baseline levels of use was predicted by a range of theoretically-salient factors including: observed teen lack of autonomy and social support in prior interactions with mothers, low teen refusal skills, and the level of social acceptance of their close friend. Findings suggest the importance of both internal factors (e.g., autonomy and relatedness struggles) and external factors (e.g., social status of friends) in explaining why vulnerability to peer influence processes may be much greater for some adolescents than others.

The role of rejection sensitivity as a critical diathesis moderating the link between adolescent relational stressors and depressive symptoms was examined using multi-method, multi-reporter data from a diverse community sample of 173 adolescents, followed from age 16 to 18. Relational stressors examined included emotional abuse, maternal behavior undermining adolescents’ autonomy and relatedness, and lack of support from close peers. As hypothesized, multiple relational stressors were found to predict the future development of depressive symptoms, but as hypothesized predictions existed primarily for adolescents who were highly rejection sensitive. Results are discussed in terms of a diathesis-stress model of depression and suggest that though relational stressors have previously shown consistent modest links to depressive symptoms, understanding pre-existing intrapsychic vulnerabilities of the adolescent may be critical to identifying the processes by which such stressors lead to depressive symptoms.

The purpose of the study is to examine how several well-known correlates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) might work together to contribute to the occurrence of this behavior. Specifically, we examined models including child abuse, psychiatric comorbidity, and disinhibition, testing how these factors may work together to lead to NSSI in the past month. Participants (n=194; 144 female; age 13–18 years) were recruited from a short-term, acute adolescent residential unit. Within 48 hours of admission to the hospital participants completed structured clinical interviews assessing mental disorders and patterns of NSSI. Following the interviews, participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing childhood abuse and a computerized continuous performance task. Consistent with study hypotheses, results revealed that the association between child abuse and NSSI is partially mediated by comorbidity. Although disinhibition is associated with comorbidity, contrary to our hypothesis, disinhibition does not mediate the relation between child abuse and NSSI. Collectively, these findings provide new information about how comorbidity may increase risk for NSSI, and critically, discuss the potential importance of creating targeted programs to reduce the prevalence of child abuse.

Research on marital interaction has focused primarily on couples in conflict contexts to understand better processes associated with concurrent and longitudinal outcomes such as marital stability and quality. Although this work has consistently revealed particular emotions (e.g., contempt) or behavioral sequences (e.g., demand/withdraw) predictive of later marital distress, it largely has neglected to take positive contexts into consideration. The present longitudinal study begins to address this gap in the literature by directly comparing newlywed behaviors from a conflict-resolution interaction with those from a love-paradigm interaction to predict relationship satisfaction and divorce proneness approximately 15 months later. Results showed that actor and partner negative (contempt) and positive (affection) emotions elicited in both positive (i.e., love) and negative (i.e., conflict) interaction contexts emerged as unique predictors of relationship quality and stability for both husbands and wives. Moreover, using a linear growth model, the temporal course of positive emotion during the love context, but not the conflict context, was predictive of later relationship satisfaction. Implications for future marital research and intervention are discussed.