A Developmental Psychopathology and Neurobiological Model of Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescence

The antecedents and risk factors and for developing borderline personality disorder (BPD) are now well documented, but there is a paucity of developmental models to understand the key processes through which they impact on the development of BPD in adolescents. In this article, we present a developmental psychopathology model of BPD in adolescence and link the difficulties adolescents with BPD have with impulsivity and self regulation, with risk factors such as genetic vulnerability, parenting and trauma. We propose a number of psychological processes through which these risk factors undermine personal and interpersonal functioning, and makes it particularly difficult to engage with the challenges of adolescence. These key psychological processes undermine the integration of the self, with extreme unintegrated affects and extreme representations of self and others, undermining the capacity to mentalize. We then make links to possible neurobiological underpinnings of the disturbances in affect, Theory of Mind and interpersonal difficulties in adolescents with BPD.     

青少年同伴依恋对抑郁的影响:朋友社会支持和自尊的中介作用

为探讨青少年同伴依恋与抑郁的关系,以及社会支持和自尊在二者关系中的作用机制,采用父母和同伴依恋问卷(IPPA)中的同伴依恋分量表、领悟社会支持量表(PSSS)、自尊量表(SES)和流调中心用抑郁量表(CES-D)对668名中学生进行调查,结果发现:(1)青少年同伴依恋、朋友社会支持和自尊两两之间呈显著正相关,且三者与抑郁均呈显著负相关。(2)青少年同伴依恋不仅能直接负向预测抑郁,而且还能通过自尊的单独中介作用对抑郁产生影响;朋友社会支持的单独中介作用以及社会支持→自尊的链式中介作用在初、高中生群体中存在差异,即在初中生群体中,同伴依恋能够通过社会支持的单独中介作用以及社会支持→自尊的链式中介作用对抑郁产生影响,而在高中生群体中,这两种间接作用均不显著。研究结果揭示了青少年同伴依恋对抑郁产生影响的心理机制,为引导青少年建立良好的同伴依恋,促进自尊及心理健康发展提供了有益建议。     

The Teaching and Learning of Psychotherapy by Rudolf Ekstein and R. S. Wallerstein

The homogeneous group has been the most common form of group therapy for chronically physically ill children and adolescents. The goals of these groups have included the provision of peer support, adaptation to the realities of physical illness, and acceptance of and cooperation with the medical management of the disease. The refinement of the theory of developmental ego psychology suggests that the heterogeneous group has potential for aiding the emotional maturation of the chronically physically ill. This paper presents examples of groups of latency-age children, early adolescents, and middle adolescents that included chronically physically ill with physically healthy peers. The groups were planned under the assumption that despite external differences, children and adolescents of a similar age identify with peers in terms of normal age-specific developmental needs and conflicts.     

Transformation of Adolescent Peer Relations in the Social Media Context: Part 1—A Theoretical Framework and Application to Dyadic Peer Relationships

Investigators have long recognized that adolescents’ peer experiences provide a crucial context for the acquisition of developmental competencies, as well as potential risks for a range of adjustment difficulties. However, recent years have seen an exponential increase in adolescents’ adoption of social media tools, fundamentally reshaping the landscape of adolescent peer interactions. Although research has begun to examine social media use among adolescents, researchers have lacked a unifying framework for understanding the impact of social media on adolescents’ peer experiences. This paper represents Part 1 of a two-part theoretical review, in which we offer a transformation framework to integrate interdisciplinary social media scholarship and guide future work on social media use and peer relations from a theory-driven perspective. We draw on prior conceptualizations of social media as a distinct interpersonal context and apply this understanding to adolescents’ peer experiences, outlining features of social media with particular relevance to adolescent peer relations. We argue that social media transforms adolescent peer relationships in five key ways: by changing the frequency or immediacy of experiences, amplifying experiences and demands, altering the qualitative nature of interactions, facilitating new opportunities for compensatory behaviors, and creating entirely novel behaviors. We offer an illustration of the transformation framework applied to adolescents’ dyadic friendship processes (i.e., experiences typically occurring between two individuals), reviewing existing evidence and offering theoretical implications. Overall, the transformation framework represents a departure from the prevailing approaches of prior peer relations work and a new model for understanding peer relations in the social media context.     

Longitudinal links between childhood peer acceptance and the neural correlates of sharing

Childhood peer acceptance is associated with high levels of prosocial behavior and advanced perspective taking skills. Yet, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these associations have not been studied. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural correlates of sharing decisions in a group of adolescents who had a stable accepted status (n = 27) and a group who had a chronic rejected status (n = 19) across six elementary school grades. Both groups of adolescents played three allocation games in which they could share money with strangers with varying costs and profits to them and the other person. Stably accepted adolescents were more likely to share their money with unknown others than chronically rejected adolescents when sharing was not costly. Neuroimaging analyses showed that stably accepted adolescents, compared to chronically rejected adolescents, exhibited higher levels of activation in the temporo‐parietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus, temporal pole, pre‐supplementary motor area, and anterior insula during costly sharing decisions. These findings demonstrate that stable peer acceptance across childhood is associated with heightened activity in brain regions previously linked to perspective taking and the detection of social norm violations during adolescence, and thereby provide insight into processes underlying the widely established links between peer acceptance and prosocial behavior.     

Stress and coping in Japanese children and adolescents

Abstract

Japanese children and adolescents (n=580) provided self-reports of stressor intensity, coping efforts, and adjustment. A new measure of Japanese adolescent coping was created, and psychometric analyses confirmed a reliable four-factor structure. Mean group difference analyses showed that girls reported higher levels of self-image and peer relations stress, and reported using isolation and problem-solving coping more and externalising coping less than males. Younger adolescents (5th/8th grades) reported higher stress in the domains of school, peer relations, and family relations, whereas older adolescents (10th grade) reported higher self-image problems. Statistical moderation was used to examine how youth negotiated the stress process. Females were found to be more responsive to appearance, family, and peer difficulties. Affiliation coping by females operated as a buffer between appearance anxiety and dissatisfaction with appearance. Externalizing coping was not associated with peer relations satisfaction for males, but it was negatively associated for females.     

亲子分离与青少年同伴侵害和抑郁的关系:一项追踪研究

采用追踪研究设计,对贵州省1094名青少年进行了间隔半年的两次测查,考察早期亲子分离对青少年后期同伴侵害经历及抑郁水平的影响及性别差异。结果表明：（1）早期亲子分离能显著增加T1同伴侵害和抑郁,并通过T1的同伴侵害和抑郁间接影响T2的同伴侵害和抑郁;（2）亲子分离、同伴侵害和抑郁的关系存在显著性别差异：在女生组中,早期亲子分离不仅能够显著增加T1抑郁水平,还通过影响T1抑郁间接影响T2的同伴侵害状况,且早期亲子分离也可以边缘显著预测T1的同伴侵害状况;在男生组中,亲子分离仅能显著预测T1的同伴侵害经历,对于T1抑郁及T2时间点的各变量则无显著影响;（3）无论是否受到亲子分离的影响,同伴侵害与青少年抑郁之间均存在相互作用关系。研究结果提示早期亲子分离会导致青少年后期同伴侵害经历及抑郁水平上升,且主要体现在女生群体中,这为经历亲子分离后青少年心理健康干预方案的制定提供了科学依据。     

When do peers influence adolescent males' risk taking? Examining decision making under conditions of risk and ambiguity

Risk taking is highly prevalent among adolescent males, and a range of studies have shown that decisions become riskier if a peer is present. However, previous studies have typically provided participants with explicit probabilities of risk in each situation. This does not accurately reflect adolescents' real‐world risk taking, where decisions are made in ambiguous situations alongside their peers. Aiming for a more ecologically valid design, the present experiment manipulated situational ambiguity and examined its interplay with group decision making and developmental factors. Adolescent males (N = 202) aged 12–15 completed a “Wheel of Fortune” task and then self‐reported their score, presenting an opportunity to cheat as a measure of antisocial risk taking. As predicted, adolescents were more likely to take risks when probabilities were ambiguous rather than explicit. Further, higher levels of gambling choices were made by groups in ambiguous, but not risk situations. Age significantly predicted gambling in ambiguous conditions, whereas developmental dispositions (risk perception, reward sensitivity, and inhibitory control) did not play a role. Findings provide an insight into the social and situational conditions under which adolescent males engage in reckless behavior.     

The Risk and Protective Functions of Perceived Family and Peer Microsystems Among Urban Adolescents in Poverty

Utilized a pattern-based approach to discover the different constellations of perceived social transactions separately for family and peer systems and explored the risk and protective functions of these microsystem profiles for both depression and antisocial behavior among a sample of ethnically and racially diverse urban adolescents living in poverty. Measures of perceived social support, involvement and hassles with family and peers, as well as perceived social acceptance and peers' values were entered into two sets of iterative cluster analyses to identify distinct profiles of family and peer transactions. From each of the perceived family and peer transactional analyses, six replicated profiles emerged. Several of the profiles were consistent with expectations from prior literature such as Enmeshing families and Rejecting peer networks, while others were novel and intriguing such as Entangling peers. Family profiles were consistent in their risk and protective associations for both depression and antisocial behavior, while the peer profiles varied in their effects for each developmental outcome. For example, the Rejecting peer profile placed adolescents at increased risk for depression but protected them from antisocial behavior. Implications for future research and preventive intervention are discussed.     

Are mother–child similarities in value orientations related to mothers' parenting? A comparative study of American and Romanian mothers and their adolescent children

The current study investigated similarities between mothers' and their adolescent children's individualistic and collectivistic values by analysing data from 337 American mother–adolescent dyads and 100 Romanian mother–adolescent dyads. The two countries differ in the degree of socioeconomic and political changes as well as quality of intergenerational relationships, therefore differences in the extent of shared values between mothers and adolescents were expected. Similarities in value orientations between mothers and adolescents may be a result of actual transmission processes, but it may also be due to influences from the general value context in their society, an aspect often called Zeitgeist influence or cultural stereotype. Adolescents' perception of maternal parenting behaviours was hypothesized to moderate the similarities between mothers and adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that collectivistic values were transmitted more than individualistic values and that stronger value similarities were found within biological dyads compared to randomly assigned dyads or within the peer group. Additionally, maternal acceptance and control moderated the similarities between mothers and adolescents, and associations between perceived maternal parenting and adolescents' values were revealed.     

Socialization of Social Anxiety in Adolescent Crowds

In this study, we looked at whether social anxiety is socialized, or influenced by peers’ social anxiety, more in some peer crowds than others. Adolescents in crowds with eye-catching appearances such as Goths and Punks (here termed Radical), were compared with three comparison groups. Using data from 796 adolescents (353 girls and 443 boys; M _age  = 13.36) at three timepoints, the results show that adolescents affiliating with the Radical crowd tended to select peers from the same crowd group. Being a member of a crowd in itself did not predict socialization of social anxiety, but adolescents in the Radical crowd were more influenced by their peers’ social anxiety than adolescents who did not affiliate with the Radical crowd group. The results suggest that through a bidirectional process, adolescents affiliating with Radical crowds may narrow their peer relationship ties in time, and in turn socialize each other’s social anxiety.     

Co-Rumination Exacerbates Stress Generation among Adolescents with Depressive Symptoms

Through stress generation, individuals’ own thoughts and behaviors can actually lead to increases in their experience of stress. Unfortunately, stress generation is especially common among individuals who are already suffering from elevated depressive symptoms. However, despite the acknowledgement that some individuals with depressive symptoms generate greater stress than others, few studies have identified specific factors that could exacerbate stress generation among individuals with depressive symptoms. The present study examines co-rumination as a factor that might exacerbate stress generation among adolescents with depressive symptoms using a short-term longitudinal design. Considering these processes among adolescents was critical given that many youth experience increases in depressive symptoms at this developmental stage and that co-rumination also becomes more common at adolescence. Participants were 628 adolescents (326 girls; 302 boys) who reported on their depressive symptoms, experiences of stress, and co-rumination with a best friend. Interpersonal stressors (peer and family stress) and non-interpersonal stressors (school and sports stress) were assessed. Consistent with past research, adolescents with depressive symptoms experienced greater interpersonal and non-interpersonal stress over time. Importantly, co-rumination interacted with both depressive symptoms and gender in predicting increases in peer stress. Depressive symptoms predicted the generation of peer stress only for girls who reported high levels of co-rumination with friends. Implications for protecting youth with depressive symptoms against stress generation are discussed.     

The impact of onlooking and including bystander behaviour on judgments and emotions regarding peer exclusion

We investigated judgments and emotions in contexts of social exclusion that varied as a function of bystander behaviour (N = 173, 12‐ and 16‐year‐olds). Adolescents responded to film vignettes depicting a target excluded by a group with no bystanders, onlooking bystanders, or bystanders who included the target. Adolescents were asked to judge the behaviour and attribute emotions to the excluding group, the excluded target, and the bystanders. Younger adolescents judged the behaviour of the excluding group as more wrong than older adolescents when there were no bystanders present, indicating that the presence of bystanders was viewed as lessening the negative outcome of exclusion by the younger group. Yet, bystanders play a positive role only when they are includers, not when they are silent observers. This distinction was revealed by the findings that adolescents rated the behaviour of onlooking bystanders as more wrong compared with the behaviour of including bystanders. Moreover, all adolescents justified the inclusive behaviour more frequently with empathy than the onlooking behaviour. Adolescents also anticipated more empathy to including bystanders than to onlooking bystanders, as well as anticipated more guilt to onlooking bystanders than including bystanders. The findings are discussed in light of the role of group norms and group processes regarding bystanders' roles in social exclusion peer encounters.     

Emotional Dysregulation and Interpersonal Difficulties as Risk Factors for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Adolescent Girls

The purpose of this study was to examine a model of factors that place psychiatrically hospitalized girls at risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The role of familial and peer interpersonal difficulties, as well as emotional dysregulation, were examined in relationship to NSSI behaviors. Participants were 99 adolescent girls (83.2% Caucasian; M age = 16.08) admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Structural equation modeling indicated the primacy of emotional dysregulation as an underlying process placing adolescents at risk for NSSI and mediating the influence of interpersonal problems through the family and peer domains. When family and peer relationships were characterized by conflict and lack of support for managing emotions, adolescents reported more dysregulated emotion processes. Family relational problems were directly and indirectly related to NSSI through emotional dysregulation. The indirect processes of peer relational problems, through emotional dysregulation, were significantly associated with NSSI frequency and severity. The findings suggest that the process by which interpersonal difficulties contribute to NSSI is complex, and is at least partially dependent on the nature of the interpersonal problems and emotion processes.     

Adolescent Self-Esteem and Cognitive Skills Training: A School-Based Intervention

We developed and evaluated a school-based psychosocial prevention program for adolescents, focusing on self-esteem, negative cognitive processes, and peer isolation. Fifty-one tenth-grade students between the ages of 13–16 were recruited and randomly allocated to one of three groups; Social Cognitive Training group (SCT), Attention Placebo Comparison Group (APC) and a Waitlist Control group (WL). A pre-post design using two types of measures: specific measures of the target skills (self-esteem, self-statements) and impact measures (quality of peer relationships, acceptability of intervention for adolescents and teachers) evaluated the effectiveness and social validity of the intervention. Multivariate Analyses of Variance showed significant improvements on measures of target skills for the SCT group in contrast to the comparison conditions on reported self-esteem, and self statements, however mixed results were found on the impact measures. While the SCT group was rated as highly acceptable and useful by both adolescents and teachers, student self report ratings of quality of peer relationships showed little change across the study period. We discussed our findings in terms of the effectiveness of group based cognitive interventions in developing adolescent self-esteem and social competence, and the ecological validity of implementing programs within naturalistic settings.     

The Relation Between Early Adolescents’ Trust Beliefs in Peers and Reactions to Peer Provocation: Attributions of Intention and Retaliation

The authors examined the relation between early adolescents’ trust beliefs in peers and both their attributions for, and retaliatory aggression to, peer provocation. One hundred and eight-five early adolescents (102 male) from the United Kingdom (M age = 12 years, 2 months, SD = 3 months) completed the Children's Generalized Trust Beliefs in peer subscale (K. J. Rotenberg, C. Fox, et al., 2005) and reported the intentions of, and their retaliatory aggression to, hypothetical peer provocation. A curvilinear relation was found between trust beliefs in peers and retaliatory aggression but not for attributions of intention. Early adolescents with low and those with very high trust beliefs in peers reported greater retaliatory aggression than did early adolescents with the middle range of trust beliefs. The findings supported the conclusion that early adolescents who are high trusting, as well as those are very low trusting, are at risk for psychosocial maladjustment. Support was not obtained for a hostility attribution bias interpretation of those patterns.     

Social Cognition and Interpersonal Impairment in Young Adolescents with ADHD

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it aims to examine whether the impairment in peer functioning and social-cognitive deficits (i.e., hostile attribution bias, social comprehension, social problem-solving) found in elementary school aged children with ADHD also occur in adolescence. Second, it aims to provide evidence for a predictive relationship between these social-cognitive deficits and an adolescent’s functional impairment in the social domain. To address these aims, several social-cognitive tasks were administered to a small sample of young adolescents with ADHD (N = 27) and a comparison sample without an ADHD diagnosis (N = 18). Parent report of functional impairment and peer sociometric data were also gathered. Comparisons of both parent and peer report of adolescent social functioning suggest that individuals with ADHD continue to experience difficulties with peers into the adolescent years and data from the social-cognitive tasks show evidence of social comprehension and problem-solving deficits. Further analyses indicated a significant link between functional impairment and social cognition. Findings herein are discussed in the context of both the developmental changes that arise during adolescence and consideration of the importance of social cognition for understanding the impaired social functioning experienced by adolescents with ADHD.     

Peer group membership and a sense of belonging: their relationship to adolescent behavior problems

This study explored three aspects of peer group membership in adolescence: peer group affiliation, the importance of group membership, and a sense of peer group belonging. Each is considered in relationship to adolescents' behavior problems as measured by the Achenbach Youth Self-Report. Participants included an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 733 adolescents ranging in age from 11 to 18 years. Girls reported more internalizing problems and boys reported more externalizing problems. Girls also reported a higher sense of peer group belonging than boys. When controlling for adolescent age, gender, ethnicity, parent's educational level, and family structure, a sense of peer group belonging was negatively related to internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Adolescents who viewed peer group membership as very important to them and had a positive sense of peer group belonging had significantly fewer behavior problems than those who viewed peer group membership as very important but did not have a positive sense of peer group belonging.     

Developmental patterns of change in the influence of safe and risky peer choices on risky decision‐making

Adolescents take more risks when peers monitor their behavior. However, it is largely unknown how different types of peer influence affect adolescent decision‐making. In this study, we investigate how information about previous choices of peers differentially influences decision‐making in adolescence and young adulthood. Participants (N = 99, age range 12–22) completed an economic choice task in which choice options were systematically varied on levels of risk and ambiguity. On each trial, participants selected between a safer choice (low variability in outcome) and a riskier choice (high variability in outcome). Participants made choices in three conditions: a solo condition in which they made choices with no additional information, a social condition in which they saw choices of supposed peers, and a computer condition in which they saw choices of a computer. Results showed that participants’ choices conform to the choices made by the peers, but not a computer. Furthermore, when peers chose the safe option, late adolescents were especially likely to make a safe choice. Conversely, when the peer made a risky choice, late adolescents were least likely to follow choices made by the peer. We did not find evidence for differential influence of social information on decisions depending on their level of risk and ambiguity. These results show that information about previous decisions of peers are a powerful modifier for behavior and that the effect of peers on adolescents’ decisions is less ubiquitous and more specific than previously assumed.