Linda Rose-krasnor - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Linda Rose-krasnor
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 2004
relationships with parents and friends were examined with respect to their main and interactive e... more relationships with parents and friends were examined with respect to their main and interactive effects on psychosocial functioning. Participants reported on parental support, the quality of their best friendships, self-worth, and perceptions of social competence. Peers reported on aggression, shyness and withdrawal, and rejection and victimization. Mothers reported on psychological adjustment. Perceived parental support and friendship quality predicted higher global self-worth and social competence and less internalizing problems. Perceived parental support predicted fewer externalizing problems, and paternal (not maternal) support predicted lower rejection and victimization. Friendship quality predicted lower rejection and victimization for only girls. Having a supportive mother protected boys from the effects of low quality friendships on their perceived social competence. High friendship quality buffered the effects of low maternal support on girls' internalizing difficulties.
Journal of College Student Development, 2008
We examined subjective experiences in activities and perceptions of growth in a sample of first-y... more We examined subjective experiences in activities and perceptions of growth in a sample of first-year female university students (N = 196; age range = 17 to 19 years old, M = 18.48, SD = 0.53; the most common ethnic affiliations were British Isles, 51% of respondents, Canadian, 34%, French, 14%, and German, 8%). Students described 4 activities, rated their subjective
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2013
Social withdrawal has been associated with adjustment difficulties across development. Although m... more Social withdrawal has been associated with adjustment difficulties across development. Although much is known about shyness, little is known about preference-for-solitude; even less is known about its relations with adjustment across different periods of adolescence. We examined whether preference-for-solitude might be differentially associated with adjustment difficulties in early and late adolescence. Self- and parent-reports of withdrawal motivations and adjustment were collected from 234 eighth graders (113 boys; M age = 13.43) and 204 twelfth graders (91 boys; M age = 17.25). Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that above and beyond the effects of shyness, preference-for-solitude was more strongly associated with adjustment difficulties in 8th grade than in 12th grade. Preference-for-solitude was associated with greater anxiety/depression, emotion dysregulation, and lower self-esteem in 8th grade; these relations were not found in 12th grade. Although preference-for-solitude was associated with lower social competence in both 8th and 12th grades, this relation was significantly stronger in 8th grade than in 12th grade. Findings suggest preference-for-solitude has closer ties to maladjustment in early adolescence than in late adolescence. Interventions targeting preferred-solitary youth in early adolescence may be particularly fruitful.
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2012
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2010
The primary objectives of this investigation were to determine the extent to which young adolesce... more The primary objectives of this investigation were to determine the extent to which young adolescents are stable in high perceived popular status across the middle school transition and to examine whether changes in social behaviors predict the stability, gain, and loss of perceived popular status after the transition. The sample included 672 young adolescents (323 boys) who completed peer nomination assessments of social behavior and perceived popularity at the end of elementary school (5th grade) and the beginning of middle school (6th grade). Findings indicated that 62% of perceived popular adolescents remained stable in their high popular status across the middle school transition. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that a combination of aggression and arrogance/conceit was associated with stable and newly-gained perceived popular status after the middle school transition. Taken together, findings highlight the significance of contextual and temporal changes in adolescents' perceived popular status.
Journal of Adolescence, 2011
Drawing on identity development theory, the connection between engagement in sport and identity s... more Drawing on identity development theory, the connection between engagement in sport and identity status was examined. First-year undergraduates (n = 116 sport-involved youth; 67% women; mean age = 18.58 yrs) completed measures of interpersonal and ideological identity status (achievement, moratorium, diffusion, foreclosure), along with behavioral (breadth, intensity) and psychological (e.g., enjoyment, competence) indicators of sport engagement. Using structural equation modeling, we examined the relation between latent sport engagement and identity status in interpersonal and ideological domains. As hypothesized, latent sport engagement predicted greater interpersonal (but not ideological) identity achievement. Consistent with identity development theory, an additional specific relation was observed between lower breadth of sport involvement and higher interpersonal identity achievement. Results demonstrate the value of examining behavioral and psychological indicators of sport engagement jointly, and support a growing body of research linking sport and positive youth development.
Journal of Adolescence, 2012
Previous research suggests that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrate success in forming... more Previous research suggests that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrate success in forming friendships, yet these friendships tend to be of lesser quality. Drawing on Selman's (1980) theory of interpersonal understanding, we compared levels of friendship understanding between anxiously withdrawn preadolescents and a sample of non-withdrawn age mates. Fifth graders (N=116; 58% girls; mean age = 10.33 yrs) completed same-sex friendship and social behavior nominations, as well as a semi-structured clinical interview assessing understanding of various friendship issues in response to a hypothetical friendship dilemma. Results suggest that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrated lower levels of friendship understanding for some, but not all, friendship issues that may be related to friendship quality. The findings suggest that social cognitive assessments of friendship may be useful in understanding the friendship successes and difficulties of anxiously withdrawn preadolescents.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2006
The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, s... more The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, stability, best friend's characteristics, and friendship quality. Using peer nominations of shy/socially withdrawn and aggressive behaviors, two groups of children were identified from a normative sample of fifth-grade children: shy/withdrawn (n = 169) and control (nonaggressive/nonwithdrawn; n = 163). Friendship nominations, teacher reports, and friendship quality data were gathered. Results revealed that shy/withdrawn children were as likely as control children to have mutual stable best friendships. Withdrawn children's friends were more withdrawn and victimized than were the control children's best friends; further, similarities in social withdrawal and peer victimization were revealed for withdrawn children and their friends. Withdrawn children and their friends reported lower friendship quality than did control children. Results highlight the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measures of friendship when considering relationships as risk and/or protective factors.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2008
Heterogeneity and individual differences in the developmental course of social withdrawal were ex... more Heterogeneity and individual differences in the developmental course of social withdrawal were examined longitudinally in a community sample (N=392). General Growth Mixture Modeling (GGMM) was used to identify distinct pathways of social withdrawal, differentiate valid subgroup trajectories, and examine factors that predicted change in trajectories within subgroups. Assessments of individual (social withdrawal), interactive (prosocial behavior), relationship (friendship involvement, stability and quality, best friend's withdrawal and exclusion/victimization) and group-(exclusion/victimization) level characteristics were used to define growth trajectories from the final year of elementary school, across the transition to middle school, and then to the final year of middle school (fifth-toeighth grades). Three distinct trajectory classes were identified: low stable, increasing, and decreasing. Peer exclusion, prosocial behavior, and mutual friendship involvement differentiated class membership. Friendlessness, friendship instability, and exclusion were significant predictors of social withdrawal for the increasing class, whereas lower levels of peer exclusion predicted a decrease in social withdrawal for the decreasing class.
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1994
... respon-ses. A hierarchical loglinear analyses was conducted to assess sex, grade, and sex x g... more ... respon-ses. A hierarchical loglinear analyses was conducted to assess sex, grade, and sex x grade differences in agents for peace. A significant grade x agent category effect was found, partial %2 (df= 9) = 29.52, P< 0.001. ...
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1996
The primary focus of this study was the assessment of children's social competence in relation to... more The primary focus of this study was the assessment of children's social competence in relation to two aspects of the mother-child relationshipattachment security and maternal directiveness. Speci cally, we expected concurrent child-mother attachment security to be positively correlated with children's positive social engagement and social problem-solving skills and negatively related to aggression, whereas maternal directiveness was predicted to show the opposite pattern of correlations. Subjects were 111 mothers and their 4-year-old target children, each paired with a same-sex, same-age unfamiliar control child. Maternal directiveness was assessed in co-operative task and free-play sessions involving the target child, target mother, and control child. The target child's social engagement and social problem-solving skills were measured during dyadic free play with the control child. Multiple 310 ROSE-KRASN OR ET AL. regression analyses assessed relative contributions of maternal directiveness and attachment security to the prediction of child behaviour with the peer. Attachment security predicted positive social engagement. Maternal directiveness was associated only with aspects of the children's social problem-solving. These results support previous research linking child-mother attachment security, maternal control patterns and children's social competence, although our ndings showed the importance of separating the in uences of attachment quality and the socialisation aspects of parenting.
Identity, 2009
Page 1. Ethnolinguistic Identity and Youth Activity Involvement in a Sample of Minority Canadian ... more Page 1. Ethnolinguistic Identity and Youth Activity Involvement in a Sample of Minority Canadian Francophone Youth David Y. Bourgeois St. Mary&#x27;s University Michael A. Busseri and Linda Rose-Krasnor Brock University We ...
European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2007
Developmental Psychology, 2006
Connections between youth activity involvement and indicators of successful development were exam... more Connections between youth activity involvement and indicators of successful development were examined in a longitudinal high school sample. Drawing on theories of expertise skill development (e.g., J. Côté, 1999); the selection, optimization, and compensation framework (P. B. Baltes, 1997); and theories of positive youth development (e.g., R. M. Lerner, J. B. Almerigi, C. Theokas, & J. , reciprocal associations between breadth and intensity of activity involvement and developmental success were explored. Time 1 breadth (but not intensity) and increases in breadth predicted higher levels of successful development at Time 2 (20 months later). Time 1 developmental success and improvements predicted greater Time 2 breadth and intensity. Implications for research and theory related to connections between youth activity involvement and successful development are discussed.
Developmental Psychology, 2013
The primary goals of this study were to test a conceptual model linking social approach and avoid... more The primary goals of this study were to test a conceptual model linking social approach and avoidance motivations, socially withdrawn behaviors, and peer difficulties in later childhood and to compare the socioemotional functioning of different subtypes of withdrawn children (shy, unsociable, avoidant). Participants were 367 children, aged 9 -12 years. Measures included assessments of social motivations (i.e., self-reported shyness and preference for solitude) and social withdrawal (observations of solitary behaviors in the schoolyard and self-reports of solitary activities outside of school), as well as self-and parent-reported peer difficulties and internalizing problems. Among the results, both shyness and preference for solitude were associated with socially withdrawn behaviors, which in turn predicted peer difficulties. However, only shyness (but not preference for solitude) also displayed a direct path to peer difficulties. As well, results from person-oriented analyses indicated that different subtypes of socially withdrawn children displayed decidedly different profiles with regard to indices of internalizing problems. For example, whereas unsociable children did not differ from their nonwithdrawn peers on indices of internalizing problems, socially avoidant (i.e., high in both shyness and unsociability) children reported the most pervasive socioemotional difficulties. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of different forms of social withdrawal for socioemotional functioning in later childhood.
Child Development, 1998
Children's (N = 58) perceptions of emotional support from mother and best friend were assessed at... more Children's (N = 58) perceptions of emotional support from mother and best friend were assessed at age 8. Perceptions of support from mother were predicted by attachment security at age 4, suggesting continuity in the children's internal working model of self in relation to mother. Preschool attachment security predicted age 8 perceptions of maternal support better than the mother's actual behavior at age 8. Identification of the best friend as a member of one's emotional support network was not related to security, but was positively related to social competence. However, among insecurely attached children, the greater the reliance on the best friend for emotional support, the greater the externalizing problems. Compensatory effects of best friend support on the social-emotional adaptation of insecurely attached children were not found.
Child Development, 2006
The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reaction... more The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reactions, and coping strategies of shy/withdrawn and aggressive girls and boys and to examine whether such social cognitions differ within the relationship context of friendship. Drawn from a sample of fifth and sixth graders (M age 5 10.79 years; SD 5 .77), 78 shy/withdrawn, 76 aggressive, and 85 control children were presented with hypothetical social situations that first involved unfamiliar peers, and then a mutual good friend. Results revealed group and gender differences and similarities, depending on the relationship context. From our findings emerges a central message: friends' involvement during interpersonal challenges or stressors mitigates children's attributions, emotions, and coping responses.
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2009
In recent years, an impressive volume of evidence has accumulated demonstrating that youth involv... more In recent years, an impressive volume of evidence has accumulated demonstrating that youth involvement in structured, organized activities (e.g. school sports, community clubs) may facilitate positive youth development. We present a theory-based framework for studying structured activity involvement (SAI) as a context for positive youth development based on two key dimensions: breadth and intensity of involvement. Our main goal is to demonstrate the separability, salience, and developmental significance of these two dimensions. We review three developmental theoretical approaches (identity development, life-span selection-optimization-compensation theory, and affordances) that support our conceptualization of breadth and intensity as salient and significant dimensions of SAI. We also summarize our recent program of research on SAI demonstrating the separability of breadth and intensity dimensions, which shows links between these dimensions and indicators of positive development. Finally, we discuss how the proposed breadth-intensity approach could be used to extend research on the linkage between youth SAI and successful development.
Attachment & Human Development, 2006
We evaluated whether gossip between best friends moderated the relation between anxious withdrawa... more We evaluated whether gossip between best friends moderated the relation between anxious withdrawal and friendship quality in early adolescence, using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 2004
relationships with parents and friends were examined with respect to their main and interactive e... more relationships with parents and friends were examined with respect to their main and interactive effects on psychosocial functioning. Participants reported on parental support, the quality of their best friendships, self-worth, and perceptions of social competence. Peers reported on aggression, shyness and withdrawal, and rejection and victimization. Mothers reported on psychological adjustment. Perceived parental support and friendship quality predicted higher global self-worth and social competence and less internalizing problems. Perceived parental support predicted fewer externalizing problems, and paternal (not maternal) support predicted lower rejection and victimization. Friendship quality predicted lower rejection and victimization for only girls. Having a supportive mother protected boys from the effects of low quality friendships on their perceived social competence. High friendship quality buffered the effects of low maternal support on girls' internalizing difficulties.
Journal of College Student Development, 2008
We examined subjective experiences in activities and perceptions of growth in a sample of first-y... more We examined subjective experiences in activities and perceptions of growth in a sample of first-year female university students (N = 196; age range = 17 to 19 years old, M = 18.48, SD = 0.53; the most common ethnic affiliations were British Isles, 51% of respondents, Canadian, 34%, French, 14%, and German, 8%). Students described 4 activities, rated their subjective
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2013
Social withdrawal has been associated with adjustment difficulties across development. Although m... more Social withdrawal has been associated with adjustment difficulties across development. Although much is known about shyness, little is known about preference-for-solitude; even less is known about its relations with adjustment across different periods of adolescence. We examined whether preference-for-solitude might be differentially associated with adjustment difficulties in early and late adolescence. Self- and parent-reports of withdrawal motivations and adjustment were collected from 234 eighth graders (113 boys; M age = 13.43) and 204 twelfth graders (91 boys; M age = 17.25). Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that above and beyond the effects of shyness, preference-for-solitude was more strongly associated with adjustment difficulties in 8th grade than in 12th grade. Preference-for-solitude was associated with greater anxiety/depression, emotion dysregulation, and lower self-esteem in 8th grade; these relations were not found in 12th grade. Although preference-for-solitude was associated with lower social competence in both 8th and 12th grades, this relation was significantly stronger in 8th grade than in 12th grade. Findings suggest preference-for-solitude has closer ties to maladjustment in early adolescence than in late adolescence. Interventions targeting preferred-solitary youth in early adolescence may be particularly fruitful.
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2012
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2010
The primary objectives of this investigation were to determine the extent to which young adolesce... more The primary objectives of this investigation were to determine the extent to which young adolescents are stable in high perceived popular status across the middle school transition and to examine whether changes in social behaviors predict the stability, gain, and loss of perceived popular status after the transition. The sample included 672 young adolescents (323 boys) who completed peer nomination assessments of social behavior and perceived popularity at the end of elementary school (5th grade) and the beginning of middle school (6th grade). Findings indicated that 62% of perceived popular adolescents remained stable in their high popular status across the middle school transition. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that a combination of aggression and arrogance/conceit was associated with stable and newly-gained perceived popular status after the middle school transition. Taken together, findings highlight the significance of contextual and temporal changes in adolescents' perceived popular status.
Journal of Adolescence, 2011
Drawing on identity development theory, the connection between engagement in sport and identity s... more Drawing on identity development theory, the connection between engagement in sport and identity status was examined. First-year undergraduates (n = 116 sport-involved youth; 67% women; mean age = 18.58 yrs) completed measures of interpersonal and ideological identity status (achievement, moratorium, diffusion, foreclosure), along with behavioral (breadth, intensity) and psychological (e.g., enjoyment, competence) indicators of sport engagement. Using structural equation modeling, we examined the relation between latent sport engagement and identity status in interpersonal and ideological domains. As hypothesized, latent sport engagement predicted greater interpersonal (but not ideological) identity achievement. Consistent with identity development theory, an additional specific relation was observed between lower breadth of sport involvement and higher interpersonal identity achievement. Results demonstrate the value of examining behavioral and psychological indicators of sport engagement jointly, and support a growing body of research linking sport and positive youth development.
Journal of Adolescence, 2012
Previous research suggests that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrate success in forming... more Previous research suggests that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrate success in forming friendships, yet these friendships tend to be of lesser quality. Drawing on Selman's (1980) theory of interpersonal understanding, we compared levels of friendship understanding between anxiously withdrawn preadolescents and a sample of non-withdrawn age mates. Fifth graders (N=116; 58% girls; mean age = 10.33 yrs) completed same-sex friendship and social behavior nominations, as well as a semi-structured clinical interview assessing understanding of various friendship issues in response to a hypothetical friendship dilemma. Results suggest that anxiously withdrawn preadolescents demonstrated lower levels of friendship understanding for some, but not all, friendship issues that may be related to friendship quality. The findings suggest that social cognitive assessments of friendship may be useful in understanding the friendship successes and difficulties of anxiously withdrawn preadolescents.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2006
The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, s... more The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, stability, best friend's characteristics, and friendship quality. Using peer nominations of shy/socially withdrawn and aggressive behaviors, two groups of children were identified from a normative sample of fifth-grade children: shy/withdrawn (n = 169) and control (nonaggressive/nonwithdrawn; n = 163). Friendship nominations, teacher reports, and friendship quality data were gathered. Results revealed that shy/withdrawn children were as likely as control children to have mutual stable best friendships. Withdrawn children's friends were more withdrawn and victimized than were the control children's best friends; further, similarities in social withdrawal and peer victimization were revealed for withdrawn children and their friends. Withdrawn children and their friends reported lower friendship quality than did control children. Results highlight the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measures of friendship when considering relationships as risk and/or protective factors.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2008
Heterogeneity and individual differences in the developmental course of social withdrawal were ex... more Heterogeneity and individual differences in the developmental course of social withdrawal were examined longitudinally in a community sample (N=392). General Growth Mixture Modeling (GGMM) was used to identify distinct pathways of social withdrawal, differentiate valid subgroup trajectories, and examine factors that predicted change in trajectories within subgroups. Assessments of individual (social withdrawal), interactive (prosocial behavior), relationship (friendship involvement, stability and quality, best friend's withdrawal and exclusion/victimization) and group-(exclusion/victimization) level characteristics were used to define growth trajectories from the final year of elementary school, across the transition to middle school, and then to the final year of middle school (fifth-toeighth grades). Three distinct trajectory classes were identified: low stable, increasing, and decreasing. Peer exclusion, prosocial behavior, and mutual friendship involvement differentiated class membership. Friendlessness, friendship instability, and exclusion were significant predictors of social withdrawal for the increasing class, whereas lower levels of peer exclusion predicted a decrease in social withdrawal for the decreasing class.
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1994
... respon-ses. A hierarchical loglinear analyses was conducted to assess sex, grade, and sex x g... more ... respon-ses. A hierarchical loglinear analyses was conducted to assess sex, grade, and sex x grade differences in agents for peace. A significant grade x agent category effect was found, partial %2 (df= 9) = 29.52, P< 0.001. ...
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1996
The primary focus of this study was the assessment of children's social competence in relation to... more The primary focus of this study was the assessment of children's social competence in relation to two aspects of the mother-child relationshipattachment security and maternal directiveness. Speci cally, we expected concurrent child-mother attachment security to be positively correlated with children's positive social engagement and social problem-solving skills and negatively related to aggression, whereas maternal directiveness was predicted to show the opposite pattern of correlations. Subjects were 111 mothers and their 4-year-old target children, each paired with a same-sex, same-age unfamiliar control child. Maternal directiveness was assessed in co-operative task and free-play sessions involving the target child, target mother, and control child. The target child's social engagement and social problem-solving skills were measured during dyadic free play with the control child. Multiple 310 ROSE-KRASN OR ET AL. regression analyses assessed relative contributions of maternal directiveness and attachment security to the prediction of child behaviour with the peer. Attachment security predicted positive social engagement. Maternal directiveness was associated only with aspects of the children's social problem-solving. These results support previous research linking child-mother attachment security, maternal control patterns and children's social competence, although our ndings showed the importance of separating the in uences of attachment quality and the socialisation aspects of parenting.
Identity, 2009
Page 1. Ethnolinguistic Identity and Youth Activity Involvement in a Sample of Minority Canadian ... more Page 1. Ethnolinguistic Identity and Youth Activity Involvement in a Sample of Minority Canadian Francophone Youth David Y. Bourgeois St. Mary&#x27;s University Michael A. Busseri and Linda Rose-Krasnor Brock University We ...
European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2007
Developmental Psychology, 2006
Connections between youth activity involvement and indicators of successful development were exam... more Connections between youth activity involvement and indicators of successful development were examined in a longitudinal high school sample. Drawing on theories of expertise skill development (e.g., J. Côté, 1999); the selection, optimization, and compensation framework (P. B. Baltes, 1997); and theories of positive youth development (e.g., R. M. Lerner, J. B. Almerigi, C. Theokas, & J. , reciprocal associations between breadth and intensity of activity involvement and developmental success were explored. Time 1 breadth (but not intensity) and increases in breadth predicted higher levels of successful development at Time 2 (20 months later). Time 1 developmental success and improvements predicted greater Time 2 breadth and intensity. Implications for research and theory related to connections between youth activity involvement and successful development are discussed.
Developmental Psychology, 2013
The primary goals of this study were to test a conceptual model linking social approach and avoid... more The primary goals of this study were to test a conceptual model linking social approach and avoidance motivations, socially withdrawn behaviors, and peer difficulties in later childhood and to compare the socioemotional functioning of different subtypes of withdrawn children (shy, unsociable, avoidant). Participants were 367 children, aged 9 -12 years. Measures included assessments of social motivations (i.e., self-reported shyness and preference for solitude) and social withdrawal (observations of solitary behaviors in the schoolyard and self-reports of solitary activities outside of school), as well as self-and parent-reported peer difficulties and internalizing problems. Among the results, both shyness and preference for solitude were associated with socially withdrawn behaviors, which in turn predicted peer difficulties. However, only shyness (but not preference for solitude) also displayed a direct path to peer difficulties. As well, results from person-oriented analyses indicated that different subtypes of socially withdrawn children displayed decidedly different profiles with regard to indices of internalizing problems. For example, whereas unsociable children did not differ from their nonwithdrawn peers on indices of internalizing problems, socially avoidant (i.e., high in both shyness and unsociability) children reported the most pervasive socioemotional difficulties. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of different forms of social withdrawal for socioemotional functioning in later childhood.
Child Development, 1998
Children's (N = 58) perceptions of emotional support from mother and best friend were assessed at... more Children's (N = 58) perceptions of emotional support from mother and best friend were assessed at age 8. Perceptions of support from mother were predicted by attachment security at age 4, suggesting continuity in the children's internal working model of self in relation to mother. Preschool attachment security predicted age 8 perceptions of maternal support better than the mother's actual behavior at age 8. Identification of the best friend as a member of one's emotional support network was not related to security, but was positively related to social competence. However, among insecurely attached children, the greater the reliance on the best friend for emotional support, the greater the externalizing problems. Compensatory effects of best friend support on the social-emotional adaptation of insecurely attached children were not found.
Child Development, 2006
The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reaction... more The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reactions, and coping strategies of shy/withdrawn and aggressive girls and boys and to examine whether such social cognitions differ within the relationship context of friendship. Drawn from a sample of fifth and sixth graders (M age 5 10.79 years; SD 5 .77), 78 shy/withdrawn, 76 aggressive, and 85 control children were presented with hypothetical social situations that first involved unfamiliar peers, and then a mutual good friend. Results revealed group and gender differences and similarities, depending on the relationship context. From our findings emerges a central message: friends' involvement during interpersonal challenges or stressors mitigates children's attributions, emotions, and coping responses.
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2009
In recent years, an impressive volume of evidence has accumulated demonstrating that youth involv... more In recent years, an impressive volume of evidence has accumulated demonstrating that youth involvement in structured, organized activities (e.g. school sports, community clubs) may facilitate positive youth development. We present a theory-based framework for studying structured activity involvement (SAI) as a context for positive youth development based on two key dimensions: breadth and intensity of involvement. Our main goal is to demonstrate the separability, salience, and developmental significance of these two dimensions. We review three developmental theoretical approaches (identity development, life-span selection-optimization-compensation theory, and affordances) that support our conceptualization of breadth and intensity as salient and significant dimensions of SAI. We also summarize our recent program of research on SAI demonstrating the separability of breadth and intensity dimensions, which shows links between these dimensions and indicators of positive development. Finally, we discuss how the proposed breadth-intensity approach could be used to extend research on the linkage between youth SAI and successful development.
Attachment & Human Development, 2006
We evaluated whether gossip between best friends moderated the relation between anxious withdrawa... more We evaluated whether gossip between best friends moderated the relation between anxious withdrawal and friendship quality in early adolescence, using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (