Psychosocial Adjustment Of Young Adults Research Articles

Coping With Sexual Orientation–Related Minority Stress

ABSTRACTLittle is known about how adolescents cope with minority stressors related to sexual orientation. This study examined 245 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adult’s (ages 21–25) retrospective reports of coping in response to LGB minority stress during adolescence (ages 13–19) to test the reliability and validity of a measure of minority stress coping. Further, the study examined associations between LGB minority stress coping and young adult psychosocial adjustment and high school attainment. Validation and reliability was found for three minority stress coping strategies: LGB-specific strategies (e.g., involvement with LGBT organizations), alternative-seeking strategies (e.g., finding new friends), and cognitive strategies (e.g., imagining a better future). LGB-specific strategies were associated with better psychosocial adjustment and greater likelihood of high school attainment in young adulthood, whereas alternative-seeking and cognitive-based strategies were associated with poorer adjustment and less likelihood of high school attainment.

Care Orientation in the Teens as a Predictor of Young Adult Psychosocial Adjustment

The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is a watershed period in development that carries risk for poor psychosocial adjustment. It also carries potential for positive transitions into the caregiving roles and responsibilities of adult life. Research to date has predominantly focused on adolescent predictors of problematic rather than positive transitions; yet predictors of the latter hold equal (if not greater) promise for informing health promoting interventions. The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to use Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to define patterns of psychosocial adjustment and maladjustment in young adulthood (21-years of age); (2) to examine the unique role of adolescent prosocial behaviour (e.g., volunteering and civic engagement) in promoting adjustment and reducing maladjustment in young adulthood; and, (3) to examine whether protective developmental relationships are maintained after adjustment for other covariates including socio-economic background factors and personality characteristics. Data were drawn from the Victorian cohort of the International Youth Development Study (IYDS; N = 2407), a representative sample of students in Victoria, Australia. Students were assessed in Grade 9 (Mean age = 15-years) and followed up at age 21-years. LPA identified three psychosocial adjustment classes at age 21 defined as: (1) Adjusted (24.8 %); (2) Normative (63.9 %); and, (3) Maladjusted (11.3 %). Adolescent volunteering, belief in a moral order, family opportunities for prosocial behaviour, and commitment to school were associated with enhanced adjustment and reduced maladjustment in young adulthood. Findings highlight the potential benefit of interventions designed to enhance adolescent prosocial behaviours and care orientation in promoting healthy transitions into young adult life.

Being out at school: the implications for school victimization and young adult adjustment.

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adolescents disclose their sexual and/or gender identities to peers at school. Disclosure of LGBT status is linked with positive psychosocial adjustment for adults; however, for adolescents, "coming out" has been linked to school victimization, which in turn is associated with negative adjustment. This study investigates the associations among adolescent disclosure of LGBT status to others at school, school victimization, and young adult psychosocial adjustment using a sample of 245 LGBT young adults (aged 21-25 years, living in California). After accounting for the association between school victimization and later adjustment, being out at high school was associated with positive psychosocial adjustment in young adulthood. Results have significant implications for training of school-based health and mental health providers, education and guidance for parents and caregivers, fostering positive development of LGBT youth, and developing informed school policies and educational practices.

Differences in Sleep Quality and Health-Related Quality of Life in Young Adults With Allergies and Asthma and Their Healthy Peers

Objective: The current study examined the relationship between sleep quality and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Participants: Participants were 501 undergraduate students with allergies (167), asthma + allergies (167), or with no history of a chronic illness (167) completed study measures from August 2011 to April 2012. Methods: The undergraduate students completed questionnaires online as part of a larger study of psychosocial adjustment of young adults. Results: Young adults with allergies and asthma + allergies reported significantly worse sleep quality and HRQOL than healthy peers. Additionally, those with allergies and asthma + allergies had significantly more sleep disturbances and used sleeping medication significantly more often in the previous month than healthy peers. Conclusions: These results highlight concerns regarding quality of life and sleep problems in an often-overlooked population. Importantly, sleep difficulties can result in difficulties in daily living and impairment in academic functioning.

Gender-nonconforming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: School victimization and young adult psychosocial adjustment.

Past research documents that both adolescent gender nonconformity and the experience of school victimization are associated with high rates of negative psychosocial adjustment. Using data from the Family Acceptance Project’s young adult survey, we examined associations among retrospective reports of adolescent gender nonconformity and adolescent school victimization due to perceived or actual lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) status, along with current reports of life satisfaction and depression. The participants included 245 LGBT young adults ranging in age from 21 to 25 years. Using structural equation modeling, we found that victimization due to perceived or actual LGBT status fully mediates the association between adolescent gender nonconformity and young adult psychosocial adjustment (i.e., life satisfaction and depression). Implications are addressed, including specific strategies that schools can implement to provide safer environments for gender-nonconforming LGBT students.

Factor Structure of the Illness Intrusiveness Ratings Scale in Young Adults With Allergies and Asthma

Objective. To determine the factor structure of the Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale in young adults with only allergies versus those with both allergies and asthma to evaluate the domains of impairment associated with these 2 chronic health conditions. Method. A total of 454 young adults with allergies (n = 255) or asthma + allergies (n = 199) between the ages of 18 and 25 (mean = 19.39, standard deviation = 1.34) completed the study questionnaire as a part of a larger study of the psychosocial adjustment of young adults with a chronic health condition. Results. A 3-factor structure (Identity, Intimacy, and Relationships and Personal Development) of the Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale had better fit than a 1-factor structure. Several modifications to the original 3-factor model improved the fit within this population. Conclusions. The 3-factor model was shown to be effective within young adults with allergies and asthma + allergies with some modifications. The structure of the final model was not invariant across the disease groups, although most of the items (excluding health and religious expression) performed similarly between those young adults with allergies and those with asthma + allergies.

The Later, the Better? Early, Average, and Late Timing of Sexual Experiences in Adolescence and Psychosocial Adjustment in Young Adulthood

The present article challenges the assumption that later timing of sexual experiences is unequivocally associated with higher psychosocial adjustment. Data from two representative cross-sectional German studies conducted in 1996 and 2005 were analyzed to examine the psychosocial adjustment of young adults (age 20–29) who had their first sexual experiences early (before age 16), at an average age (between age 16 and 18), or late (later than age 18 or not yet). Early timing of sexual experiences was associated with lower educational attainment. Late timing of sexual experiences was associated with poorer social relations. Early and late timing of sexual experiences were associated with lower subjective well-being. Results were replicated across the two studies and controlled for sociodemographic characteristics and (in Study 1) early adversities, parental involvement, and pubertal timing. These findings show that not only early but also late timing of first sexual experiences can be associated with lower psychosocial adjustment in selected domains in young adulthood. Further research is needed to understand maladaptive correlates of late sexual timing.

Gender-nonconforming lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: School victimization and young adult psychosocial adjustment.

Past research documents that both adolescent gender nonconformity and the experience of school victimization are associated with high rates of negative psychosocial adjustment. Using data from the Family Acceptance Project's young adult survey, we examined associations among retrospective reports of adolescent gender nonconformity and adolescent school victimization due to perceived or actual lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) status, along with current reports of life satisfaction and depression. The participants included 245 LGBT young adults ranging in age from 21 to 25 years. Using structural equation modeling, we found that victimization due to perceived or actual LGBT status fully mediates the association between adolescent gender nonconformity and young adult psychosocial adjustment (i.e., life satisfaction and depression). Implications are addressed, including specific strategies that schools can implement to provide safer environments for gender-nonconforming LGBT students.

Parental divorce during early adolescence in Caucasian families: the role of family process variables in predicting the long-term consequences for early adult psychosocial adjustment.

The relationship between parental divorce occurring during adolescence and young adult psychosocial adjustment was examined, as was the role of family process variables in clarifying this relationship. Participants were young Caucasian adults from divorced (n = 119) and married (n = 123) families. Assessments were conducted during adolescence and 6 years later during early adulthood. Young adults from married families reported more secure romantic attachments than those from divorced families; however, differences were not evident in other domains of psychosocial adjustment after demographic variables were controlled. Three family process variables (parent-adolescent relationship, interparental conflict, and maternal depressive symptoms) were examined as potential mediators and moderators of the association between parental divorce and young adult adjustment. No evidence supporting mediation or moderation was found; however, the parent-adolescent and parent-young adult relationships, particularly when the identified parent was the father, emerged as significant predictors of young adult psychosocial adjustment.