Christine McCauley Ohannessian

Emerging Adulthood; Journal of Community Psychology

This study examined media use and psychological adjustment (as indicated by depression and anxiety symptomatology) in a sample of 328 14- to 16-year-old adolescents. Primary goals of the study were to explore whether media use differs by gender, whether media use is related to adolescent psychological problems, and whether media use moderates the r...

This study explored the relations between parental problem drinking, adolescentparent communication, and adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Surveys were administered to a diverse sample of 683 1517-years-old adolescents in the spring of 2007 and again in the spring of 2008. Results indicated that paternal problem drinking directly predicted substa...

This longitudinal study examined 75 young adolescents to explore whether self-competence predicts the emergence of gender differences in depression and anxiety. During both 6th and 7th grade, boys reported significantly higher levels of self-competence than did girls. In addition, boys were significantly less depressed and anxious than girls in 7th...

The relationship between parental alcohol dependence (with and without comorbid psychopathology) and adolescent psychopathology was examined in a sample of 665 13-17 year-old adolescents and their parents. Results indicated that adolescents who had parents diagnosed with alcohol dependence only did not significantly differ from adolescents who had...

Background: The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between anxiety symptomatology and substance use (alcohol use and drug use) during adolescence, systematically by gender and race/ethnicity. Methods: Self-report surveys were administered to 905 15-17-year-old adolescents (54% girls) in the spring of 2007. Results: RESU...

Adolescents frequently experience social anxiety, with parents often serving as the primary source of clinical referral. Yet, adolescents’ needs for services often revolve around social anxiety that manifests when interacting with unfamiliar peers. Emerging work indicates that parents’ reports about adolescent social anxiety fail to predict adolesc...

The management of the daily rhythm of work and childrearing, two central responsibilities of working fathers, has received limited research attention. Drawing from an expanded self‐regulation perspective, this study seeks to understand the within‐person depletion and compensation mechanisms that explain how fathers' daily work experiences spillover...

Open communication with parents, defined as perceived ease of adolescent–parent disclosure, and family support are components of positive family functioning linked with fewer adolescent internalizing symptoms. However, relatively little is known about bidirectional pathways over time. Even less is known about bidirectional pathways for Hispanic ado...

Despite increasing social media use (SMU) among younger adolescents, little is known about early adolescent SMU and family functioning. Developmental applications of electronic propinquity theory and social domain theory suggest that early adolescent SMU may disrupt family functioning by decreasing closeness and exacerbating hostility. Family funct...

Research investigating social media use typically focus on late adolescents and young adults, despite a growing number of early adolescents, 93% to 97%—having at least one social media platform. Also, early adolescents are more likely to engage with newer sites, such as Snapchat and Instagram, than older platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Give...

Objectives A diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) during fetal life or infancy can be devastating for parents, resulting in significant psychological stressors. The goals of this study were to (1) assess maternal resolution and adaptation to a new diagnosis of CHD, (2) explore how maternal resolution and adaptation relates to psychological w...

ARTICLE FREE TO ACCESS AT: https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2022.2158842. In this editorial statement, we briefly delineated a series of observations, guidelines, and directions for future research focused on the most common outcome of multi-informant assessments of youth mental health. Discrepancies commonly occur between estimates of youth mental...

Although previous work has consistently identified positive associations between co-rumination and rumination during adolescence, little to no research has examined how this relationship operates on the person-specific level. The current study aimed to extend current developmental theories of co-rumination and rumination by examining within-person...

Anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders among adolescents and can be associated with long-term adverse outcomes if untreated. Our study examined the association between family functioning and symptoms of five anxiety disorders and the potential moderating role of trait mindfulness among adolescent boys and girls. The s...

Background This study identified latent trajectory classes for maternal problem drinking and paternal problem drinking and examined the associations between these trajectory classes and offspring anxiety symptoms during adolescence and emerging adulthood. Methods Participants (n = 870; 54% female; 59% non-Hispanic White; Mage = 16.10, SD = 0.71) w...

Introduction This study examined potential longitudinal and bidirectional relationships between family conflict and adolescent e‐cigarette use, and whether gender moderated these associations. Methods Adolescents (NT1 = 1334; Mage = 13.11, SD = 0.82; 52% female; 50% White) from the United States completed surveys in the spring of 2016 and again in...

Co-rumination is the act of perseverating on problems or negative emotions with another person. Past research has shown that co-rumination has tradeoffs, as it is related to more anxiety and depressive symptoms, yet also heightened feelings of closeness and better relationship quality. However, there has been little repeated measures work, leaving...

Co-rumination is the act of perseverating on problems or negative emotions with another person, where each individual takes an active role in encouraging and perpetuating negative problem-focused talk. Past research has shown that co-rumination has tradeoffs, as it is related to more anxiety and depressive symptoms, yet also heightened feelings of...

Background This study examined the longitudinal associations between social media use, co-rumination (repeatedly discussing personal problems with peers), and internalizing symptoms during early adolescence. Methods Self-report measures were administered to a diverse sample of 1,205 early adolescents (51% girls; 51% non-Hispanic White; Mage= 12.75...

This study examined gender differences in a moderated-mediation model examining whether perceived social support moderated depressive symptom and academic achievement mediation pathways from peer victimization to substance use among 1,334 U.S. early adolescents (11-14 years, 50% girls, 51% White). Surveys were administered in schools at three 6-mon...

Background The prevalence of adolescent e-cigarette (vape) use has increased significantly over the past several years. Given the risks associated with vape use, it is important to identify predictors of adolescent vape use onset. Purpose The primary aim was to examine the time to vape use among adolescents, as a function of parental marital statu...

Appearance-related teasing is a pervasive form of bullying during adolescence. Yet, the impact of appearance-related teasing on risk for alcohol and marijuana use is unknown. This study, therefore, examined the relationship between appearance-related teasing and the use of alcohol and marijuana in a sample of 1,344 students (52% female; 51% non-His...

Introduction This systematic review and meta‐analysis examined the associations between social media use and risky behaviors during adolescence, and evaluated study characteristics (e.g., sample age, type of social media platform assessed) that may moderate these relationships. Methods A comprehensive search strategy identified relevant studies fr...

A primary goal of this study was to examine adolescents’ use of the most commonly used social media apps in the United States. An additional goal was to examine the relationship between social media use and adolescent externalizing behaviors. The moderating influences of gender and race/ethnicity also were assessed. The sample included 1,072 adoles...

Objectives Parent-adolescent relationships support the development of adolescent coping styles, but this support may be impacted by parent and adolescent gender, as well as by the presence of anxiety symptoms. This study examined the moderating role of adolescent anxiety symptoms for the longitudinal relationship between adolescent–parent communica...

Objectives The current study examined parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of family functioning and their relation to attachment styles, depressive symptomatology, and suicidal ideation in a diverse sample of adolescents (49.7% African American, 15.5% Hispanic/Latino, 28.7% White, 81.9% female). Methods Participants were 129 adolescents (ag...

Despite the salience of the social media context to psychosocial development, little is known about social media use patterns and how they relate to psychological and social functioning over time during early adolescence. This longitudinal study, therefore, identified subgroups of early adolescents based on their social media use and examined wheth...

School connectedness is an important feature to consider within the school environment because it likely accounts for why some youth thrive and others struggle with internalizing problems. Furthermore, internalizing problems typically do not occur in isolation of each other, but rather anxiety and depressive symptoms frequently co-occur and increas...

This study examined the temporal relation between self-competence and depressive symptoms in a large, diverse, U.S. community sample of 1,344 adolescents (51% female; X¯age = 12.73, SD = .69, range = 11-14 years). Surveys were administered to seventh- and eighth-grade students at participating high schools in the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2017...

This study investigates the impact of early adolescent internalizing symptoms on family functioning for girls and boys, as moderated by perceived stress. Surveys were administered to 1,344 middle school students (11-14 years; 51% girls; 51% non-Hispanic White) in the fall of 2016 (T1) and 6 months later in the spring of 2017 (T2). For boys, depress...

The daily emotional experiences of adolescents are dynamic, vary significantly across individuals, and are crucial to their psychological adjustment, warranting a need to identify factors that promote adaptive affective responses to stressors and attenuated affective instability. The objective of this study, therefore, was to examine protective fac...

Background: Commitment to change is an innovative potential mediator and mechanism of behavior change (MOBC) that has not been examined in adolescents with cannabis use. The Adolescent Substance Abuse Goal Commitment (ASAGC) questionnaire is a reliable and valid 2-scale measure developed to assess the adolescent's commitment to either abstinence o...

The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescent-parent communication and adolescent internalizing problems. Both gender of the adolescent and gender or the parent were considered. An additional goal was to explore whether coping skills mediated this relationship. The sample included a community sample of 980 U.S. h...

Family relationships play an essential role in adolescent development. When studying relationship domains (e.g., quality, conflict, communication), researchers typically rely on adolescents and their parents as informants. However, across research teams, domains, and methods of measurement, researchers commonly observe discrepant estimates of famil...

This study examined the associations between friend conflict, defined as arguments with friends, and affective states using a daily diary design in a community sample of adolescents. Participants were 100 U.S. adolescents (13-17 years; 40% girls; 79% white). Adolescents completed an online survey on 14 consecutive evenings. Adolescents reported sig...

Background: Youth with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) referred to treatment from the Juvenile Justice System (JJS) account for approximately half of the treatment admissions nationwide. The objective of this paper is to report a comparison of retention and outcomes for JJS referrals to those from the general community. Methods: A total of 172 ad...

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether social relationship factors are associated with trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence into emerging adulthood. Specifically, adolescent-parent communication with mothers and fathers, peer support, and sibling warmth and hostility were examined in relation to depressive symptoms...

The primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescents’ psychological functioning (as indicated by depressive symptoms) and substance use (alcohol and drug use) and membership in adolescent–parent communication trajectory subgroups in a large, diverse community sample of adolescents from the United States (n = 1,057; 53%...

This project describes the development, feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of Parents as Coping Coaches (PaCC), a brief, group-based, cognitive–behavioral intervention designed to target caregiver burden and distress tolerance for parents of adolescents with chronic pain. Participants included parents ( N = 22) of adolescents...

The primary purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of adolescents based on their reported use of technology. Secondary aims were to examine whether technology use typologies differ by gender and to explore whether technology use typologies are linked to psychological adjustment. The sample included 1,003 10th and 11th grade students from U...

The current study examined relationships between different types of social media platforms used and psychological functioning in a diverse, national U.S. sample of emerging adults (18–22 years). Participants completed surveys online in the spring of 2014. Findings from a path analysis model suggested that individuals who used a higher number of dif...

This study examined the temporal relation between self‐competence (academic, social, athletic, physical appearance, and close friend) and depressive symptoms in a large, diverse community sample of 636 adolescents. Surveys were administered to all 10th‐ and 11th‐grade students at participating high schools at baseline (mean age = 16.10, SD = .71) a...

The objective of the current study was to apply the novel technique of time-varying effect modeling to examine age-varying associations between specific coping strategies and depressive symptoms across adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 14–24). The participants were drawn from a community sample and followed across 4 years of high school and...

This study examined the relationship between parental problem drinking (maternal and paternal) and emerging adult problem behaviors (alcohol use, drug use, and antisocial behavior). In addition, the moderating role of parental support (maternal and paternal) was explored. Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of emerging adults (N...

Purpose: Little is known about how and when coping trajectories differ between males and females. The current study aimed to examine gender differences in the use of specific coping strategies across developmental ages using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) in a large, diverse community sample. Methods: A longitudinal study following adolesce...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the brief loss of control over eating scale (LOCES-B) in a community sample of adolescents. Method: Participants were 1,116 adolescents (11-15 years; 53% girls; 53% non-Hispanic White) recruited from middle schools in the Northeast United States. Participants wer...

This study aimed to characterize adolescent family functioning typologies using latent profile analysis (LPA). A secondary aim was to examine profile associations with adolescent internalizing symptoms at one-year follow-up. Students (N = 1029; 53% female; mean age = 16.14, SD = .75 years) completed measures of family functioning, anxiety, and depr...

The primary goal of this study was to examine the associations between baseline body image dissatisfaction (BID) and subsequent anxiety trajectories in a diverse, community sample of adolescent girls and boys. Participants were 581 adolescents (baseline age: M = 16.1, SD = 0.7; 58% female; 65% non-Hispanic White) from U.S. public high schools. Self...

Background: Few studies have examined factors that moderate the relationship between playing video games and adolescent psychological adjustment. Therefore, the primary goal of this study was to examine the relationship between playing video games and anxiety symptomatology in a sample of 441 11th and 12th grade students, while considering both ge...

Purpose: The goal of the study was to examine whether baseline body mass index (BMI) z-scores and weight status predicted conduct disorder (CD) symptoms in 368 adolescents (15-17 years). Methods: Participants in the 10th and 11th grades completed self-report questionnaires at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up. Baseline BMI z-scores and weight s...

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-competence and subsequent depressive symptom trajectories, by gender, in a community sample of adolescents (N = 753; 53% female; 65% non-Hispanic White). Data were collected annually for three years beginning when adolescents were in the 10th and 11th grades (Age: M = 16.09, SD...

Social media use has become pervasive in the lives of emerging adults. Although social media may provide individuals with positive opportunities for communication and learning, social media sites also may provide an outlet for youth conduct problems, such as bullying, harassment, and intentional hostility and aggression toward others. Yet, the rela...

While parents have a critical influence on reducing adolescent risk taking, adolescents' access to online spaces presents significant and novel challenges to parents' ability to reduce their youth's involvement in cyberbullying. The present study reviews the existing literature on parents' influence (i.e., parental warmth and parental monitoring) o...

Although developmental trajectories of anxiety symptomatology have begun to be explored, most research has focused on total anxiety symptom scores during childhood and early adolescence, using racially/ethnically homogenous samples. Understanding the heterogeneous courses of anxiety disorder symptoms during middle to late adolescence has the potent...

Objective: Treatment response as measured by both retention and abstinence attainment rates for adolescents with cannabis use disorders (CUD) has been unsatisfactory. This study tested the hypothesis that adaptive treatment (AT) will improve outcomes for poor responders (PR) to evidence-based practice interventions. Method: A total of 161 adoles...

This longitudinal study sought to investigate associations between adolescent substance use and family functioning and whether internalizing symptoms play a mediating role in this relationship; based on growing evidence from the literature, we also explored gender differences. Participants (N = 1,036) completed surveys in school during 2007, 2008,...

This study examined the relationship between daily time spent using social media and substance use in a national sample of 563 emerging adults from the United States (18- to 22-year-olds, 50% female, 63% non-Hispanic White). Results revealed that males reported more social media use and more substance use in comparison to females. In addition, grea...

Introduction: Social media use is central to the lives of emerging adults, but the implications of social media use on psychological adjustment are not well understood. The current study aimed to examine the impact of time spent using social media on anxiety symptoms and severity in emerging adults. Methods: Using a web-based recruitment techniq...

Research has shown that discrepancies in adolescents' and their parents' perceptions of the family are linked to adolescent adjustment. Of note, the majority of studies to date have focused on differences in perceptions between adolescents and their parents. However, recent research has suggested that convergence in adolescents' and their parents'...

Researchers commonly rely on adolescents’ and parents’ reports to assess family functioning (e.g., conflict, parental monitoring, parenting practices, relationship quality). Recent work indicates that these reports may vary as to whether they converge or diverge in estimates of family functioning. Further, patterns of converging or diverging report...

Prior work indicates that adolescents perceive the family more negatively than do their parents. These discrepant views comprise some of the most robust observations in psychological science, and are observed on survey reports collected in vastly different cultures worldwide. Yet, whether developmental changes occur with these discrepant views rema...

The primary goals of this longitudinal study were to examine the relationship between family functioning and adolescent alcohol use and to examine whether depressed mood mediates this relationship. An additional goal was to explore whether these relations were moderated by gender. The sample included 1031 high school students from the Mid-Atlantic...

Previous studies have found evidence for gender and racial/ethnic differences in depressive symptoms in adolescence; however, the mechanisms driving this relationship are poorly understood. The goal of this study was to examine the role of individual differences in dispositional coping in the relationships between gender and depressive symptomatolo...

Commitment to change is an innovative potential mediator or mechanism of behavior change that has not been examined in adolescents with substance use disorders (SUD). The Adolescent Substance Abuse Goal Commitment (ASAGC) questionnaire is a 16-item measure developed to assess an individual's commitment to his/her stated treatment goal. The objectiv...

PurposeThe primary goal of this longitudinal study was to examine whether technology use predicts substance use and/or whether substance use predicts technology use during adolescence. Methodology/approachThe sample included 1,031 10th and 11th grade students from the Mid-Atlantic United States. The students completed surveys in school in the sprin...

The purpose of the study was to identify groups of adolescents based on their reported use of different coping strategies and compare levels of depression and anxiety symptoms across the groups. Tenth and eleventh grade public school students (N=982; 51% girls; 66% Caucasian; M age=16.04, SD=0.73) completed a battery of self-report measures that as...

This study examined the effects of both paternal problem drinking and maternal problem drinking on adolescent internalizing problems (depression and anxiety symptomatology). Surveys were administered to 566 10th and 11th grade students from the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. in the spring of 2007 and again in the spring of 2008. Although significa...

To examine the efficacy of Steps to Growing Up Healthy, an obesity prevention intervention in preschool-age, urban-dwelling minority children. Thirty-two pediatric primary care clinicians used a brief (3- to 5-minute) evidence-based behavior change intervention with low-income mothers of children aged 2-4 years during each regularly scheduled clini...

This study explored relationships among parental problem drinking, family functioning, and adolescent externalizing behaviors. The unique effects of maternal and paternal drinking were examined separately for girls and boys. The sample included 14–19 year old U.S. adolescents (Mage = 16.15; SD = .75; 52.5% female) and their parents. Participants co...

Background: Early onset of alcohol use has been linked to later alcohol problems in adulthood. Currently, it is not clear whether early onset of marijuana and tobacco use similarly predicts alcohol problems. Moreover, most studies examining the effect of early substance use onset on later problems only have followed youth into their early 20s. The...

The homes of today’s youth are filled with a variety of media options, ranging from televisions (71%) and video game consoles (50%) in their bedrooms to portable handheld devices (e.g., iPods/mp3 players, 76%) and cell phones (71%) that can accompany youth wherever they go. Of course, youth also have access to centralized media found in homes, such...

The primary goal of this longitudinal study was to examine whether media use predicts adolescent self-competence and/or whether adolescent self-competence predicts media use. The sample included 1,031 10 th and 11 th grade boys and girls from the United States. The adolescents completed a self-report questionnaire in 2007 and 2008 to assess their m...

Leading medical organizations have called on primary care pediatricians to take a central role in the prevention of childhood obesity. Weight counseling typically has not been incorporated into routine pediatric practice due to time and training constraints. Brief interventions with simple behavior change messages are needed to reach high-risk chil...

This study examines relations between adolescents' and their mothers' perceptions of the family and adolescent anxiety symptomatology. Surveys were administered to 145 15- to 18-year-old adolescents and their mothers. Adolescents viewed the family more negatively than did their mothers. In addition, adolescent girls' perceptions of the family (sati...

The primary aim of this study was to examine whether adolescent-parent communication moderates the relationship between parental problem drinking and adolescent psychological problems. Surveys were administered to a community sample of 1,001 adolescents in the spring of 2007. Results indicate that paternal problem drinking was associated with adole...

The goal of this study was to examine whether adolescent-mother discrepancies in perceptions of the family predict later adolescent externalizing problems and/or whether adolescent externalizing problems predict later adolescent-mother discrepancies in perceptions of the family. In the spring of 2007 (Time 1) and 2008 (Time 2), surveys were adminis...

Highlighted within this paper is an examination of whether parental limit setting moderates the relationship between paid work and alcohol use during adolescence. The sample included 1,001 10 th and 11 th grade students from public high schools in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States surveyed in the spring of 2007. Results indicated that pa...

The primary purpose of this study was to explore whether coping typologies during adolescence predict alcohol use and abuse during early adulthood. The roles played by paternal substance dependence and gender in this relationship also were examined. The sample included 240 15–19-year-old adolescents and their fathers, all of whom were followed-up f...

This study was designed to separately examine the relations between four fundamental components of negative affect (sadness, fear, guilt, and hostility) and the onset of substance use. An additional goal was to examine the potential mediating roles that these components of negative affect play in the relationship between paternal alcoholism and the...

The primary goals of this study were to examine the associations between technology use and alcohol and cigarette use during adolescence and to explore whether technology use moderates the relationship between parental alcoholism and substance use (alcohol and cigarette use). The sample included 328 14-16 year-old adolescent boys and girls. The ado...

This longitudinal study followed 200 adolescents into early adulthood to explore the potential mediating roles that hostility, sadness, conduct problems, and risk-taking play in the relationship between paternal alcoholism and substance abuse. Results indicated that paternal alcoholism predicted hostility; in turn, hostility predicted risk taking,...

The purpose of this prospective study was to compare the following three vulnerability models for early-onset substance use in a high-risk sample: the deviance proneness model, the negative affect regulation model, and a comprehensive model including both delinquency and negative affect. The sample included 249 15- to 19-year-old adolescents (57% c...

This longitudinal study examined whether adolescent personality characteristics and risk taking mediate the relationship between paternal substance dependence and adolescent substa