Adolescent Self-Regulation as Resilience: Resistance to Antisocial Behavior within the Deviant Peer Context

Abstract

This study tests the hypothesis that self-regulation serves as a resiliency factor in buffering youth from negative influences of peer deviance in middle to late adolescence. The interactive effects between peer deviance and self-regulation were investigated on change in antisocial behavior from age 17 to 19 years in an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents. A multi-agent construct was created using adolescent, parent, and teacher reports of self-regulation and peer deviance. Results indicated that self-regulation shows convergent validity and covaries as expected with developmental patterns of adolescent antisocial behavior. Self-regulation moderated the association of peer deviance with later self-reported adolescent antisocial behavior after controlling for prior levels of antisocial behavior. The implications of these findings for models for the development of antisocial behaviors and for intervention science are discussed.

The Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI) Adaptation to Portuguese Context

“…Moreover, they suggest also a consistently higher correlation of long-term self-regulation with these variables, what might reinforce the bidimentional model and the determinant role of the time perspective in adolescent development (Hall & Fong, 2007;Miller & Brickman, 2004;Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). These might be exciting results that open new lines of research to deepen our understanding of the role this process plays in resilience (Gardner et al, 2008) and positive youth development (Gestsdottir & Lerner, 2008).…”

Developmental trajectories of self-management skills and adolescent substance use / Desarrollo de habilidades de autocuidado y uso de sustancias en adolescentes

“…A consistent finding in the literature is that various self-management skills buffer young people from negative peer influences. A recent study found that students with low self-regulation were more vulnerable to the influence of deviant peers; while those high is self-regulation, with better volitional control of attention and behavior, were less affected by peer deviance (Gardner et al, 2008). It is also likely that the effects of poor self-management skills on problem behavior result from the fact that skill deficits may impede learning opportunities provided through early schooling (Stott, 1981), resulting in poor academic performance.…”

Autoregulace žáků v závislosti na vnímaných projevech rizikového chování

“…Pozitivní emocionalita a autoregulace přispívají u dětí k prevenci negativního či nežádoucího způsobu adaptace na prostředí. Nízká úroveň autoregulace predikuje problémy s adaptací dítěte na sociální prostředí (Gardner, Dishion, & Connell, 2008;Lengua, 2002). Může se jednat o velmi negativní jevy, jako je kriminalita, alkoholismus, užívání drog, domácí násilí, nízká kvalifikace a řada dalších.…”