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1. Associations among relationship status, gender, and sexual attraction in Australian adolescents' eating pathology

   https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23861  

   Roberts, Savannah R. ; Hay, Phillipa ; Bussey, Kay ; Trompeter, Nora ; Lonergan, Alexandra ; Mitchison, Deborah ( November 2022 , International Journal of Eating Disorders)

   Engaging in romantic relationships in adolescence may inadvertently increase participation in appearance culture and the risk for eating pathology. Little research has considered this effect, particularly as it relates to adolescents' gender identity and sexual attraction. Therefore, this study examined the associations among relationship status, gender, and sexual attraction in adolescents' eating pathology.

   Data from the first wave of the EveryBODY study, a large sample of Australian adolescents aged 11–19 years (n = 3262,M_age = 15.00, 53.80% girls), were used. Participants reported their relationship status and eating pathology (fasting, purging, binge eating, driven exercise, steroid use, and shape/weight concerns) using an online survey.

   Logistic regressions adjusting for age and BMI percentile revealed that romantic relationships were associated with higher adjusted odds (AORs) for reporting clinical frequency/severity threshold of fasting, purging, steroid use, and shape and weight concerns (AORs: 1.34–3.68). Relative to boys, girls had higher adjusted odds of reporting clinical frequency/severity threshold of all eating disorder features (AORs: 1.47–7.40), except for steroid use for muscle gain. Adolescents who reported same‐sex attraction, were unsure of their sexual attraction, or did not endorse any sexual attraction had greater adjusted odds of reporting clinical frequency/severity threshold of fasting, purging, and shape and weight concerns (AORs: 1.35–1.83) than those with only other‐sex sexual attraction. Interactions among relationship status, gender, and sexual attraction were nonsignificant.

   Romantic experience emerged as a novel correlate for adolescents' eating pathology. Future research should uncover the contextual factors within relationships that may contribute to this association.

   The initiation of romantic relationships is normative during adolescence. However, adolescents' romantic desirability is often determined by their physical appearance, increasing the risk for eating pathology. Among a large sample of Australian adolescents, romantic involvement was associated with greater likelihood of clinical threshold eating pathology for adolescent boys and girls, regardless of sexual attraction. It is urgent to identify the factors within romantic relationships that are associated with eating pathology.

    

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2. “Who’s Better at Math, Boys or Girls?”: Changes in Adolescents’ Math Gender Stereotypes and Their Motivational Beliefs from Early to Late Adolescence

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090866  

   Starr, Christine R ; Gao, Yannan ; Rubach, Charlott ; Lee, Glona ; Safavian, Nayssan ; Dicke, Anna-Lena ; Eccles, Jacquelynne S ; Simpkins, Sandra D ( September 2023 , Education Sciences)

   Though adults tend to endorse the stereotype that boys are better than girls in math, children tend to favor their own gender or be gender egalitarian. When do individuals start endorsing the traditional stereotype that boys are better? Using two longitudinal U.S. datasets that span 1993 to 2011, we examined three questions: (1) What are the developmental changes in adolescents’ gender stereotypes about math abilities from early to late adolescence? (2) Do the developmental changes vary based on gender and race/ethnicity? (3) Are adolescents’ stereotypes related to their math motivational beliefs? Finally, (4) do these patterns replicate across two datasets that vary in historical time? Adolescents in grades 8/9 and 11 were asked whether girls or boys are better at math (n’s = 1186 and 23,340, 49–53% girls, 30–54% White, 13–60% Black, 1–22% Latinx, and 2% to 4% Asian). Early adolescents were more likely to be gender egalitarian or favor their own gender. By late adolescence, adolescents’ stereotypes typically shifted towards the traditional stereotype that boys are better. In terms of race/ethnicity, White and Asian adolescents significantly favored boys, whereas Black and Latinx adolescents were more likely to endorse gender egalitarian beliefs. Adolescents’ stereotypes were significantly related to their expectancy beliefs, negatively for girls and positively for boys.

    

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3. Gestational weight change and childhood body composition trajectories from pregnancy to early adolescence

   https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.23367  

   Widen, Elizabeth M. ; Burns, Natalie ; Daniels, Michael ; Backlund, Grant ; Rickman, Rachel ; Foster, Saralyn ; Nichols, Amy R. ; Hoepner, Lori A. ; Kinsey, Eliza W. ; Ramirez‐Carvey, Judyth ; et al ( March 2022 , Obesity)

   A mother–child dyad trajectory model of weight and body composition spanning from conception to adolescence was developed to understand how early life exposures shape childhood body composition.

   African American (49.3%) and Dominican (50.7%) pregnant mothers (n= 337) were enrolled during pregnancy, and their children (47.5% female) were followed from ages 5 to 14. Gestational weight gain (GWG) was abstracted from medical records. Child weight, height, percentage body fat, and waist circumference were measured. GWG and child body composition trajectories were jointly modeled with a flexible latent class model with a class membership component that included prepregnancy BMI.

   Four prenatal and child body composition trajectory patterns were identified, and sex‐specific patterns were observed for the joint GWG–postnatal body composition trajectories with more distinct patterns among girls but not boys. Girls of mothers with high GWG across gestation had the highest BMIzscore, waist circumference, and percentage body fat trajectories from ages 5 to 14; however, boys in this high GWG group did not show similar growth patterns.

   Jointly modeled prenatal weight and child body composition trajectories showed sex‐specific patterns. Growth patterns from childhood though early adolescence appeared to be more profoundly affected by higher GWG patterns in females, suggesting sex differences in developmental programming.

    

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4. Pubertal timing and adolescent outcomes: investigating explanations for associations with a genetically informed design

   https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13808  

   Padrutt, Emily R. ; Harper, Jeremy ; Schaefer, Jonathan D. ; Nelson, Kayla M. ; McGue, Matt ; Iacono, William G. ; Wilson, Sylia ( April 2023 , Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry)

   Psychopathology and risky behaviors increase during adolescence, and understanding which adolescents are most at risk informs prevention and intervention efforts. Pubertal timing relative to same‐sex, same‐age peers is a known correlate of adolescent outcomes among both boys and girls. However, it remains unclear whether this relation is better explained by a plausible causal process or unobserved familial liability.

   We extended previous research by examining associations between pubertal timing in early adolescence (age 14) and outcomes in later adolescence (age 17) in a community sample of 2,510 twins (49% boys, 51% girls).

   Earlier pubertal timing was associated with more substance use, risk behavior, internalizing and externalizing problems, and peer problems in later adolescence; these effects were small, consistent with previous literature. Follow‐up co‐twin control analyses indicated that within‐twin‐pair differences in pubertal timing were not associated with within‐twin‐pair differences in most adolescent outcomes after accounting for shared familial liability, suggesting that earlier pubertal timing and adolescent outcomes both reflect familial risk factors. Biometric models indicated that associations between earlier pubertal timing and negative adolescent outcomes were largely attributable to shared genetic liability.

   Although earlier pubertal timing was associated with negative adolescent outcomes, our results suggests that these associations did not appear to be caused by earlier pubertal timing but were likely caused by shared genetic influences.

    

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5. Longitudinal and Concurrent Effortful Control as Predictors of Risky Bicycling in Adolescence: Moderating Effects of Age and Gender

   https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsad095  

   Kim, Nam-Yoon ; Plumert, Jodie_M ; Kearney, Joseph_K ; Clark, Lee_Anna ; Dindo, Lilian ; O’Neal, Elizabeth_E ( December 2023 , Journal of Pediatric Psychology)

   Collisions between bicycles and motor vehicles are one of the leading risk factors for injury and death in childhood and adolescence. We examined longitudinal and concurrent effortful control (EC) as predictors of risky bicycling behavior in early- to mid-adolescence, with age and gender as moderators. We also examined whether EC was associated with parent-reported real-world bicycling behavior and all lifetime unintentional injuries.

   Parent-reported EC measures were collected when children (N = 85) were 4 years old and when they were either 10 years (N = 42) or 15 years (N = 43) old. We assessed risky bicycling behavior by asking the adolescents to bicycle across roads with high-density traffic in an immersive virtual environment. Parents also reported on children’s real-world bicycling behavior and lifetime unintentional injuries at the time of the bicycling session.

   We found that both longitudinal and concurrent EC predicted adolescents’ gap choices, though these effects were moderated by age and gender. Lower parent-reported early EC in younger and older girls predicted a greater willingness to take tight gaps (3.5 s). Lower parent-reported concurrent EC in older boys predicted a greater willingness to take gaps of any size. Children lower in early EC started bicycling earlier and were rated as less cautious bicyclists as adolescents. Adolescents lower in concurrent EC were also rated as less cautious bicyclists and had experienced more lifetime unintentional injuries requiring medical attention.

   Early measures of child temperament may help to identify at-risk populations who may benefit from parent-based interventions.

    

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