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Introduction: Adolescents typically spend decreasing amounts of time with family members, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed this pattern for many youth. The objective of the current study was to better understand adolescents' perceived change in family relationship quality, and how these perceptions were related to psychosocial functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for more traditional measures of family relationship quality. Understanding how adolescents perceived change in relationship quality with family members during the pandemic offers novel insight into adolescents' relationships with their families and psychosocial functioning during this period.Method: A sample of Canadian adolescents (N = 605, ages 14 to 18, 53% girls), was employed to examine patterns of adolescents' perceived change in relationship quality with parents and siblings since the start of the pandemic, accounting for relationship quality, pandemic-related characteristics, and demographic variables.Results: Four latent profiles were identified: youth who perceived (1) low change, (2) improvement only, (3) moderate instability and (4) high instability in relationship quality. Higher perceived instability was associated with poorer functioning, with youth who reported only improvement reporting the highest overall level of functioning.Conclusions: Adolescent perceptions of change in relationship quality were heterogeneous, and contribute to psychosocial functioning over and above their general evaluations of relationship quality. In particular, youth who perceive considerable change in their relationships with siblings and parents may require additional support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Normative romantic development is theorized to progress through a series of stages: affiliative activities, group-based dating, and romantic relationships. The objectives of this research were threefold: empirically examine this progression of romantic stages during adolescence, determine normative and atypical trajectories, and examine links with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. An eight-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 698 adolescents (53.6% female; M age = 11.8 years at start of study). A group-based trajectory approach was employed to identify prototypical trajectories of romantic development and a model with three distinct romantic trajectories (i.e., On-time, Early Starters and Late Bloomers) was identified. Both timing and sequencing of romantic activity differed among trajectory groups. Analysis of Variance (ANOVAs) identified associations between Early Starters and externalizing behaviours in early, middle and later adolescence. The findings support progression through theorized stages of romantic activity and highlight the problems that are linked to early-starting and non-sequenced romantic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]