Friendship and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议的调查是NIMH资助的纵向项目(NIH#MH58116)的扩展，在该项目中，对社交孤僻、攻击性和控制性儿童在过渡到中学之前和之后的友谊和亲子关系进行了调查。拟议研究的主要目的是考察从初一到高一(6至8年级)和从高一(9年级)过渡到社会退缩和控制儿童/青少年的发展轨迹，特别强调重要关系在改变或加强这些轨迹方面的作用。一般来说，青春期早期，尤其是向高中的过渡时期，是孩子们在社会、情感和身体上发生巨大变化的时期。这一时期的发展风险和潜在的保护因素可能比我们目前项目所研究的早期时期更强烈、更复杂、后果更严重。将我们的研究延长到九年级，将使我们能够检查社交退缩的累积影响，以及追踪潜在的发展轨迹，这是我们目前的数据无法检验的。 第一个具体目标是评估控制儿童和孤僻儿童在与6、8和9年级最好的朋友和父母的关系的性质和质量方面的差异。第二个具体目标是确定每个年级(6年级、8年级、9年级)的行为特征如何与适应结果有关，以及与最好的朋友和父母的关系的性质和质量如何调节这些联系。“结果”包括内化和外化问题或缺乏问题，以及对不同领域能力的自我认知。第三个具体目标是评估(A)行为特征(如社交退缩)和(B)与最好的朋友和父母的关系的性质和质量随时间(6、8、9年级)的稳定性。最后，第四个具体目标是评估与最好的朋友和父母的关系如何随着时间的推移而形成适应，以及这些途径作为行为状态(退缩与控制)的函数有何不同。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed investigation constitutes an extension of a NIMH-funded longitudinal project (NIH # MH58116), in which the friendships and parent-child relationships of socially withdrawn, aggressive, and control children were examined before and after they made the transition to middle school. The primary purpose of the proposed study is to examine developmental trajectories of socially withdrawn and control children/adolescents from the first to the last year of middle school (6th to 8th grade) and across the transition into the first year of high school (9th grade), with particular emphasis on the roles of significant relationships in modifying or reinforcing these trajectories. The early adolescent period in general and, in particular, the transition to high school is a time of enormous social, emotional, and physical changes for children. The developmental risks and potential protective factors of this period are likely to be more intense, complex, and carry more serious consequences than the earlier period being studied in our current project. The extension of our study to 9th grade will allow us to examine the cumulative effects of social withdrawal, as well as tracking potential developmental trajectories, that would be impossible to test with our current data. The first specific aim is to evaluate differences between control and withdrawn children in the nature and quality of their relationships with best friends and parents in 6th, 8th, and 9th grades. The second specific aim is to determine how behavioral characteristics in each grade (6th, 8th, 9th) are related to adjustment outcomes, and how these associations are moderated by the nature and quality of relationships with best friends and parents. "Outcomes" include internalizing and externalizing problems or the lack thereof as well as self-perceptions of competence in various domains. The third specific aim is to assess the stability over time (grades 6, 8, 9) of (a) behavioral characteristics (e.g., social withdrawal) and (b) the nature and quality of relationships with best friends and parents. Finally the fourth specific aim is to evaluate the ways in which relationships with best friends and parents shape adjustment over time, and how these pathways differ as a function of behavioral status (withdrawal versus control).