Abstract
This investigation addresses the mediational role of friends' characteristics between adolescents' activity breadth (i.e., variety in activity participation) and their later adjustment. Data were drawn from 2 longitudinal studies: the Childhood and Beyond (CAB; N = 925) study and the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (MADICS; N = 1,338). Adolescents at Time 2 in each study (8th, 9th, and 11th graders in CAB and 8th graders in MADICS) reported on the breadth of their participation across 5 activity settings: sports, religious, volunteering, community, and school. Friends' characteristics and adolescent adjustment were reported by adolescents at Times 1 and 3. Friends' positive characteristics significantly mediated relations between activity breadth and adolescent depressive affect, self-worth, alcohol use, and problem behavior in both studies. Friends' negative characteristics significantly mediated these relations in CAB, but not in MADICS.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1081-1094 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Developmental psychology |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2008 |
Keywords
- adjustment
- adolescence
- friendships
- out-of-school activities
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Demography
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Life-span and Life-course Studies