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Longitudinal changes in trusting behavior across adolescence and their neural correlates were examined. Neural regions of interest (ROIs) included the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), left anterior insula (AI), bilateral ventral striatum (VS), and right dorsal striatum (DS). Participants (wave 1 age: M = 12.90) played the investor in a Trust Game with an uncooperative trustee three times (1-year interval). Analyses included 77 primarily Dutch participants (33 females). Participants decreased their investments with wave. Furthermore, activity was heightened in mPFC, dACC, and DS during investment and repayment, and in right VS (investment) and AI (repayment). Finally, DS activity during repayment increased with wave. These findings highlight early–middle adolescence as an important period for developing sensitivity to uncooperative behavior.

The frequency, intensity and variability of emotional experiences increase in early adolescence, which may be partly due to adolescents’ heightened affective sensitivity to social stimuli. While this increased variability is likely intrinsic to adolescent development, greater mood variability is nevertheless associated with the risk of internalising psychopathology. Early adolescents (N = 58, ages 13–14) reported their social context and mood when prompted by a smartphone application. Valence, arousal, and their variability were compared across social contexts using multilevel regression models. Social contexts were defined by the presence of close others, peripheral others, both, or neither. Arousal was lower when alone. Valence was lower and more variable, and arousal was more variable when alone than in either close or peripheral company. This is the first time that level and variability of valence and arousal in adolescent affect have been shown systematically to differ for the same individual in different daily-life social contexts.

Deze studie onderzoekt de relatie tussen sociaaleconomische status (SES) en zelfbeeld bij jonge adolescenten, en de mogelijke invloed van emotionele warmte in de kindertijd en sociale integratie met leeftijdsgenoten op deze relatie. Bovendien draagt juist in de vroege adolescentie zelfbeeld bij aan het welzijn. De 348 Duitse participanten (waarvan 52.6% jongens) waren in wave zes acht tot tien jaar oud en in wave elf twaalf tot zestien jaar oud. De variabelen zijn gemeten met een persoonlijk interview met drie items per variabele, gebaseerd op bestaande schalen. Een (multiple) regressieanalyse heeft twee hypotheses getoetst. Hypothese 1 stelde dat jonge Duitse adolescenten met een lage SES een lager zelfbeeld hebben dan jonge Duitse adolescenten met een hoge SES. Hypothese 2 stelde dat het positieve verband tussen SES en zelfbeeld minder sterk is bij een hoge emotionele warmte in de kindertijd en een hoge sociale integratie met leeftijdsgenoten in de adolescentie. Resultaten toonden aan dat jonge Duitse adolescenten met een lage SES vaker een negatief zelfbeeld hadden, waarbij sociale integratie met leeftijdsgenoten dit verband verzwakte. Emotionele warmte in de kindertijd deed dit daarentegen niet. Deze studie benadrukt de rol van sociale integratie als buffer voor de positieve relatie tussen SES en zelfbeeld, terwijl emotionele warmte dit niet lijkt te doen. Dit suggereert dat het stimuleren van sociale integratie onder jonge adolescenten met een lage SES belangrijk kan zijn voor het bevorderen van een positief zelfbeeld.

Adolescents are characterized as risk takers, but what happens when they have the chance to take risks in situations that allow them to show antisocial behavior? Adolescents with a higher amount of externalizing problems are likely to engage in antisocial behavior. Thus, they might have a tendency to take risks at someone else’s expense (antisocial risk-taking). This study examines the relation between externalizing problems and risk-taking for only themselves (self-risk taking) and antisocial risk-taking, and what the effect of prosocial tendencies is on this relation. It was expected that externalizing problems are positively associated to both kinds of risk-taking (H1 & H2) and that when having more externalizing problems, the adolescents would engage more in antisocial risk taking than self-risk taking (H3). It was also expected that prosocial tendencies has a moderative effect on the difference between self-risk taking and antisocial risk taking associated with externalizing problems (H4). We examined Dutch speaking friend duo’s living in the Netherlands, aged 12 to 16 (N = 46, M = 15.16, SD = 1.29). The participants filled in the Strengths and Difficulties Questions and play a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Simple linear and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. There are no significant relations found. There might be more in play in the mechanism behind the risk taking which results here in the fact that externalizing problems only does not have an effect on risk taking. More research on possible factors in this mechanism is needed.

Research has shown that adolescents – particularly girls – who mature relatively early often experience more internalizing problems. This effect is thought to be partially driven by psychosocial mechanisms, but previous research based relative pubertal maturation on complete samples or population standards, instead of considering the adolescents’ direct peer environment. In the current study the level of adolescents’ pubertal development was assessed relative to their classmates in order to examine relative pubertal maturation. The effects of adolescents’ relative pubertal status, and their perceived popularity, on symptoms of social anxiety and depression in adolescents were studied. All analyses were also performed for absolute pubertal maturation. Participants were 397 young adolescents (M age = 13.06, SD = 0.36, 49.9% girls) at timepoint 1, and 307 (Mage = 14.08, SD = 0.36, 50.5% girls) at timepoint 2. A significant positive relationship was found between relative pubertal timing and symptoms of depression for girls but not boys. Social anxiety symptoms were not significantly related to relative pubertal timing in either sex. Relative pubertal maturation had no effect on change in or persistence of depressive and social anxiety symptoms one year later. The effects of the comparison with the immediate peer environment, did not seem to explain more variance in internalizing symptoms than the effects of early maturation.

During school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, less support from peers and teachers may have required more autonomous motivation from adolescents. Little is known about factors that could shield against these negative effects. Driven by two influential motivational theories, we examined how mindset, feelings of school burnout and the three basic psychological needs of the self-determination theory, could predict changes in autonomous motivation when controlling for pre-pandemic levels of motivation. The results from a sample of Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.63 years) and their parents (Mage = 48.65 years) showed that endorsing a growth mindset was positively associated with autonomous motivation during the school closures, while feelings of school burnout were negatively associated with autonomous motivation. Additionally, perceived parental autonomy support (i.e. a measure of the basic psychological need of autonomy) related to more autonomous motivation during home-based learning. Our findings highlight the personal and family factors that influence how adolescents respond to home-based learning and suggest ways to keep adolescents motivated and diminish possible negative consequences during future home-based learning situations.

Neuroscience research has increased our understanding of brain development, but little is known about how parents of adolescents engage with this neuroscientific information. Dutch parents completed a digital survey on neuromyths, neuroscience literacy and views of the adolescent brain and behaviour. These parents believed 44.7% of neuromyths and showed reasonable neuroscience literacy (79.8%). Stronger neuromyth belief predicted a more negative view on adolescent brain development. About 68% of the parents reported that they had changed their parenting behaviour based on their understanding of neuroscientific findings. These self-reported changes most often reflected changes to parents’ own behaviour. The results of this study underline the importance for scientists and parents to engage in scientific activities to promote respectful and trusting relationships between them. These relationships have the potential to make communication about adolescent brain development between scientists and parents more effective and will empower parents to use correct information as a basis for their decisions around raising their adolescents.

Adolescents are characterized as risk takers, but what happens when they have the chance to take risks in situations that allow them to show antisocial behavior? Adolescents with a higher amount of externalizing problems are likely to engage in antisocial behavior. Thus, they might have a tendency to take risks at someone else’s expense (antisocial risk-taking). This study examines the relation between externalizing problems and risk-taking for only themselves (self-risk taking) and antisocial risk-taking, and what the effect of prosocial tendencies is on this relation. It was expected that externalizing problems are positively associated to both kinds of risk-taking (H1 & H2) and that when having more externalizing problems, the adolescents would engage more in antisocial risk taking than self-risk taking (H3). It was also expected that prosocial tendencies has a moderative effect on the difference between self-risk taking and antisocial risk taking associated with externalizing problems (H4). We examined Dutch speaking friend duo’s living in the Netherlands, aged 12 to 16 (N = 46, M = 15.16, SD = 1.29). The participants filled in the Strengths and Difficulties Questions and play a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Simple linear and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. There are no significant relations found. There might be more in play in the mechanism behind the risk taking which results here in the fact that externalizing problems only does not have an effect on risk taking. More research on possible factors in this mechanism is needed.

Adolescenten conformeren zich aan sociale normen om ‘erbij te horen’. Tegelijkertijd vertonen adolescenten meer risicogedrag in sociale contexten dan andere leeftijdsgroepen. Gebaseerd op de Sociale Identiteit Theorie, werd er verwacht dat de keuze voor antisociaal of prosociaal risicogedrag werd beïnvloed door ervaren sociale normen onder leeftijdsgenoten (ervaren peer normen). Dit verband zou anders zijn voor jongens en meisjes, gebaseerd op feminine en masculine gendernormen. Dit online onderzoek bestond uit Nederlandse adolescente vriendenduo’s (N = 46, leeftijd M= 15.16 jaar, SD= 1.29), waarvan 56.5% identificerend als meisje en 43.5% als identificerend als jongen. Ervaren peer normen werden gemeten middels de Perception of Peer Group Norms Questionnaire, gender met een demografische vragenlijst en prosociaal en antisociaal risicogedrag met een aangepaste versie van de Balloon Analogue Risk Task; de Balloon For Friend-taak. Hiërarchische meervoudige regressieanalyses toonden aan dat er geen verband bestaat tussen ervaren peer normen en antisociaal of prosociaal risicogedrag. Bovendien bleek er geen sprake van een moderatie-effect van gender. De niet-significante resultaten duiden op een complexer verband tussen de invloed van leeftijdsgenoten en het vertonen van sociaal risicogedrag. Vervolgonderzoek wordt geadviseerd de factoren die sociaal risicogedrag beïnvloeden te blijven verkennen, om zo adolescenten te kunnen stimuleren om risico’s te nemen op gezonde, adaptieve wijze.