Coping with Social Stress: Implications for Psychopathology in Young Adolescent Girls (original) (raw)
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Changes and Risk Factors Involved in Adolescence during Social and Emotional Development
International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2018
Major social and emotional development takes place during adolescence which shapes the life of an individual. Social and emotional developments both intertwined and the adolescence is the base age for these developments. In adolescence, individuals undergo changes during these developments such as, how to interact with family, friends and peers. They learn and understand the concept of emotional regulation and emotional expressions which help them to tackle critical situations. Due to social and emotional development they learn to form and maintain a healthy interpersonal relationship and self-esteem. At the time of these developments some individuals may develop problems which may lead to the mental health issues. There are various risk factors involved such as, conflictual family environment, low socioeconomic status and parental separation etc. which may lead to the mental health issues or problems like, depression, eating disorder and substance abuse and other psychological problems. Various psychological interventions have been reported which can be provided during social and emotional developmental process which would be helpful for individuals to deal with the issues and risks. Moreover, the author has attempted to figure out the changes which take place during social and emotional development in adolescence and what are the relevant risk factors involved in the developmental process. Author has also explored about the mental health issues and their intervention in adolescence during these developments.
Stress response and the adolescent transition: Performance versus peer rejection stressors
Development and Psychopathology, 2009
Little is known about normative variation in stress response over the adolescent transition. This study examined neuroendocrine and cardiovascular responses to performance and peer rejection stressors over the adolescent transition in a normative sample. Participants were 82 healthy children (ages 7-12 years, n=39, 22 females) and adolescents (ages 13-17, n=43, 20 females) recruited through community postings. Following a habituation session, participants completed a performance (public speaking, mental arithmetic, mirror tracing) or peer rejection (exclusion challenges) stress session. Salivary cortisol, alpha amylase (sAA), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), and heart rate (HR) were measured throughout. Adolescents showed significantly greater cortisol, sAA, SBP and DBP stress response relative to children. Developmental differences were most pronounced in the performance stress session for cortisol and DBP, and in the peer rejection session for sAA and SBP. Heightened physiological stress responses in typical adolescents may facilitate adaptation to new challenges of adolescence and adulthood. In high-risk adolescents, this normative shift may tip the balance toward stress response dysregulation associated with depression and other psychopathology. Specificity of physiological response by stressor type highlights the importance of a multi-system approach to the psychobiology of stress and may also have implications for understanding trajectories to psychopathology.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS OF ADOLESCENTS
Adolescence is the most crucial and significant period of an individual's life. It is a complex transitional period that is developmentally distinct from childhood. During this period boys and girls move from childhood to adulthood, physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. The rapid growth of body brings about moodiness, irritability, emotional tension and restlessness. Some emotional characteristics marked during adolescence are heightening of emotions, variations in emotional moods, complexity in emotions, emotions of love, fear, anger, worry, jealousy etc. Peer pressure plays an important role in adolescents life. The adolescents have difficulty in adjusting to the needs and demands of parents and peer group standards which leads to different problem. Parents, school and society have joint responsibility for the desirable growth and development of adolescents.
Journal of Adolescence, 2008
The way in which adolescents cope with stressors in their lives has been established as an important correlate of adjustment. While most theoretical models of coping entail unfolding transactions between coping strategies and emotional arousal, the majority of coping measures tap only trait-level coping styles, ignoring both temporal and affective components of the coping process. The current study fills this gap by establishing the psychometric properties of a newly developed measure, the Adolescent Coping Process Interview (ACPI), that is more in line with transactional and developmental models of coping. Results indicate that the ACPI displays good psychometric properties, captures significant intra-individual variability in coping over the process, and points to emotional arousal as informing several coping-adjustment relationships. Moreover, the ACPI and similar approaches may help promote the development of more adaptive patterns of coping in adolescents by helping to identify specific points within the coping process at which to intervene.
Development and Psychopathology, 2010
This study examined developmental processes linking competence and psychopathology in an urban sample of girls during their transition to adolescence. Longitudinal associations among indices of externalizing symptoms, social competence, and internalizing symptoms were also tested within contexts of family adversity and girls' pubertal status. Child, parent, and teacher report were employed to assess core constructs across six annual assessment waves, starting at age 9. Results revealed the significant effect of prior levels of externalizing symptoms on changes in social competence and internalizing symptoms, as well as reciprocal relations between social competence and internalizing symptoms. In addition, girl's maladaptive functioning predicted increases in family adversity exposure over time. Lastly, more mature pubertal status in early assessment waves was linked to an increase in internalizing symptoms; however, this association was reversed by the last assessment, when most girls had reached advance stages of puberty. The timing of these effects reveals important targets for future interventions aimed at promoting the successful adaptation of girls in adolescence.
The Journal of Early Adolescence, 2011
This study developed two specifications of the social skills deficit stress generation hypothesis: the "gender-incongruence" hypothesis to predict peer victimization and the "need for autonomy" hypothesis to predict conflict with authorities. These hypotheses were tested in a prospective large population cohort of 2,064 Dutch young adolescents. Social skills and pubertal timing were measured when the sample was about 11 years old, and stressful life events were measured 2.5 years later at follow-up. As predicted by the gender-incongruence hypothesis, poor assertion in boys and poor selfcontrol in girls were associated with peer victimization. Consistent with the need for autonomy hypothesis, poor self-control was associated with conflict with authorities, in both boys and girls. Furthermore, early physical maturation exacerbated the effect of poor self-control on conflict with authorities for both genders. These specific associations provide more insights in the pathways that result in the experience of interpersonal stressors in young adolescents.
Peer Stressors and Gender Differences in Adolescents' Mental Health: The TRAILS Study
Journal of Adolescent Health, 2010
Purpose: This study tested two hypotheses about gender-specific mental health effects of peer stressors during early adolescence: (1) boys and girls are sensitive to different types of peer stressors, and (2) peer stress is associated with different mental health problems in boys and girls. Methods: These two hypotheses were tested in a prospective large population cohort of 2,084 Dutch young adolescents. Internalizing and externalizing problems were measured at baseline and follow-up, whereas stressful life events in the period between baseline and follow-up were measured retrospectively at follow-up. We performed the analyses with two types of peer stressors; victimization at school and relationship losses. Results: Relationship losses were more strongly associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in girls than boys, supporting the first hypothesis. Peer victimization at school was also associated with both types of mental health problems, but equally strong in boys and girls. Conclusions: Peer stress is unlikely to be associated with different mental health problems in boys and girls. Instead, boys and girls are more likely to be susceptible to different types of peer stressors.
Psychopathology in Adolescence: Does Development Play a Role?
Thos paper discusses myths about adolescent psychopathology, including the beliefs that psychopathology is a normal state in adolescence; that adolescents grow out of their psychopathology; and that with regard to psychopathology, adolescents are either like adults or like children. Key features of adolescent development are summarized, the life span developmental perspective is explained, and developmental changes in adolescence are considered in the areas of biological change, cognition, and psychological and social development. Context changes in adolescence are examined in the family, peer groups, schools, and society. Three categories of psychopathology in adolescence are presented as the most common examples: anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders. A model for the development of psychopathology in adolescence is discussed which integrates the evidence from adolescent development as well as psychopathology. Several key features in the development of adolescent psychopatholo...
Early Puberty, Negative Peer Influence, and Problem Behaviors in Adolescent Girls
PEDIATRICS, 2013
OBJECTIVE: To determine how early puberty and peer deviance relate to trajectories of aggressive and delinquent behavior in early adolescence and whether these relationships differ by race/ethnicity. METHODS: In this longitudinal study, 2607 girls from 3 metropolitan areas and their parents were interviewed at ages 11, 13, and 16 years. Girls reported on their age of onset of menarche, best friend’s deviant behavior, delinquency, and physical, relational, and nonphysical aggression. Parents provided information on family sociodemographic characteristics and girls’ race/ethnicity. RESULTS: Sixteen percent of girls were classified as early maturers (defined by onset of menarche before age 11 years). Overall, relational and nonphysical aggression increased from age 11 to age 16, whereas delinquency and physical aggression remained stable. Early puberty was associated with elevated delinquency and physical aggression at age 11. The relationship with early puberty diminished over time fo...