Recent theories suggest that for youth highly sensitive to incentives, perceiving more social threat may contribute to social anxiety (SA) symptoms. In 129 girls (ages 11–13) oversampled for shy/fearful temperament, we thus examined how interactions between neural responses to social reward (vs. neutral) cues (measured during anticipation of peer feedback) and perceived social threat in daily peer interactions (measured using ecological momentary assessment) predict SA symptoms two years later. No significant interactions emerged when neural reward function was modeled as a latent factor. Secondary analyses showed that higher perceived social threat was associated with more severe SA symptoms two years later only for girls with higher basolateral amygdala (BLA) activation to social reward cues at baseline. Interaction effects were specific to BLA activation to social reward (not threat) cues, though a main effect of BLA activation to social threat (vs. neutral) cues on SA emerged. Unexpectedly, interactions between social threat and BLA activation to social reward cues also predicted generalized anxiety and depression symptoms two years later, suggesting possible transdiagnostic risk pathways. Perceiving high social threat may be particularly detrimental for youth highly sensitive to reward incentives, potentially due to mediating reward learning processes, though this remains to be tested.

Childhood adversity represents a robust risk factor for the development of harmful substance use. Although a range of empirical studies have examined the consequences of multiple forms of adversity (i.e., childhood maltreatment, parental alcohol use disorder [AUD]), there is a dearth of information on the relative effects of each form of adversity when considered simultaneously. The current study utilizes structural equation modeling to investigate three unique and amplifying pathways from parental AUD and maltreatment exposure to offspring alcohol use as emerging adults: (1) childhood externalizing symptomatology, (2) internalizing symptomatology, and (3) affiliation with substance-using peers and siblings. Participants (N = 422) were drawn from a longitudinal follow-up study of emerging adults who participated in a research summer camp program as children. Wave 1 of the study included 674 school-aged children with and without maltreatment histories. Results indicated that chronic maltreatment, over and above the effect of parent AUD, was uniquely associated with greater childhood conduct problems and depressive symptomatology. Mother alcohol dependence was uniquely associated with greater affiliation with substance-using peers and siblings, which in turn predicted greater alcohol use as emerging adults. Results support peer and sibling affiliation as a key mechanism in the intergenerational transmission of substance use between mothers and offspring.

Health research remains a vital activity of Indigenous health workforces. This paper reports on the main findings of yarning interviews with 14 Indigenous researchers, that was central to a project analysing the role of research training infrastructures in strengthening the Indigenous health research workforce in Australia. The findings highlighted Indigenous researcher peers as core sources of inspiration, moral support and sustenance in academia and in life. Peer generative power arising from peer groups provide a unique enriching to the educational and research experience. Indigenous researcher peers have a strong shared aspiration to champion change to health research and higher education as a key pathway to widespread positive impacting on health and well-being. We suggest the (revived) development at a collective level of a strategic and planned approach to capitalising on the positive outcomes of peer generated leadership and support.

Drawing on data from a survey conducted among 7,059 students aged 13–15 in England and Wales, this study examines parental and peer influence on church attendance among 645 students who identified themselves as Anglicans (Church of England or Church in Wales). The data demonstrated that young Anglicans who practised their Anglican identity by attending church did so primarily because their parents were Anglican churchgoers. Moreover, young Anglican churchgoers were most likely to keep going to church if their churchgoing parents also talked with them about their faith. Among this age group of Anglicans, peer support seemed insignificant in comparison with parental support. The implication from these findings for an Anglican Church strategy for ministry among children and young people is that it may be wise to invest in the education and formation of churchgoing Anglican parents.

Personality characteristics such as extraversion, low agreeableness and low conscientiousness are relevant for alcohol use during adolescence. In addition, having friends who use alcohol is one of the strongest predictors of adolescent alcohol consumption and its negative outcomes. The selection model posits that friends display similar alcohol consumption when their friendships are formed on the basis of common characteristics as, among others, personality. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the mediation role of peers in the association between the five-factor model of personality and adolescent alcohol use in two cultures. One hundred and twenty Scottish and 221 Spanish respondents, all aged 12-15 years, answered the Alcohol Intake Scale (AIS). Adolescents were asked about the alcohol used at the weekend and also about the alcohol consumed by their friends. Scottish adolescents’ personality was measured by the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO–PI–3). The Junior Spanish version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (JS NEO) was used to assess personality in the Spanish sample. Low agreeableness and low conscientiousness correlated with own alcohol quantity in both countries. We performed an independent structural equation modeling for each country. Extraversion (β = .205, p < .05) and low agreeableness (β = –.196, p < .01) for Scottish adolescents, and low conscientiousness (β = –.175, p < .05) for Spanish youths, predicted alcohol use through peer alcohol consumption at weekends. These findings support the relevance of personality traits and peer affiliation in relation to alcohol consumption in adolescence.

This study focuses on the social wellbeing of older migrants in Italy, an important yet neglected topic in the Italian political and scholarly debate. Knowledge about the lived experience of loneliness and its perceived causes was gathered by means of 34 in-depth interviews with Albanian and Moroccan migrants aged 50 and above living in the Marche region. Our findings show that the participants are surrounded by family and are largely satisfied with the contact they have with relatives; this protects them from social isolation but not from loneliness. Although they rarely express this to their spouse and friends (men) or their children (men and women), feelings of loneliness are widely experienced among the participants. The root of their loneliness largely relates to a lack of meaningful relationships with non-related age peers – having a chat, remembering old times, socialising with others when family members are busy, talking about intimate matters they cannot or will not share with relatives – which supports the argument of loneliness scholars that different types of relationships serve different functions and fulfil different needs. Having more contact with people outside the family circle, especially with co-ethnic peers, could reduce these feelings of loneliness substantially, but factors such as discrimination and lack of Italian language proficiency, free time, financial resources and nearby contact facilities are hindrances. These factors offer clues for public loneliness interventions.

The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) is the most widely used self-report measure of adolescent attachment relationships. This study reports the development of the IPPA-45, a short-form of the IPPA that assesses the quality of mother, father, and peer attachment relationships. A hierarchical measurement model is proposed with three lower-order factors and a higher-order factor. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using a sample of 1,025 English-speaking adolescents (387 males) aged 13 to 18 years. Results support the hierarchical factor structure, and tests of model invariance demonstrated that the measurement models were similar regardless of age or sex. Differences in mean scores were found with regard to attachment target, gender and age. Overall, the IPPA-45 is supported as a psychometrically sound measure of relationship attachment across the age-range of adolescence.

Both peer groups and genetics have been associated with adolescent smoking behavior. Recently, Loehlin (Loehlin, J. C. (2010). Is there an active gene–environment correlation in adolescent drinking behavior? Behavior Genetics, 40, 447–451) reported that twin differences in alcohol use were associated with differences in the number of common friends. Twins with more common friends were more similar in drinking, but only for dizygotic pairs. Using the same sample as Loehlin's (the National Merit twins), we replicated all of these findings for a composite cigarette smoking measure and for smoking initiation, but not persistence. The pattern of results is most consistent with homophily, or the tendency to associate with individuals that are like oneself. If peer influence occurs in the presence of homophily, then active genotype–environment correlation will be induced.

This study investigated the relationship between attachment, mood and deliberate self-harm (DSH) in a nonclinical population (n = 114). In addition to a range of risky behaviours, the most commonly reported DSH behaviours were Head-banging (47%), Hitting (46%), Scratching (38%) and Cutting (34%). Those who engaged in DSH had poorer quality of attachment to both parents but not peers, and higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Path analysis was then used to examine the interaction between attachment, mood and DSH. The impact of the quality of attachment on DSH was found to be mediated by stress, which suggests that DSH may be a maladaptive coping mechanism. Attachment to father and peers was found to be more influential than attachment to mother. Our findings suggest that DSH may be more prevalent in the community than previously recognised, and that attachment, which is currently neglected in DSH research, warrants further investigation in both clinical and nonclinical populations.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an interview protocol, based on the Friendship Quality Questionnaire, could be adapted to examine the close relationships of children with developmental disabilities in an inclusive school setting. Twenty-five children with developmental disabilities aged between approximately 5 and 12 years participated and their relationships with 74 peers were examined. Several adaptations to the procedures and interview instrument were evaluated, including gathering interview data from multiple sources and the development of a short form of the interview questionnaire. Overall, the adaptations to procedures used in the current study appeared successful in catering for the wide range of abilities and ages among respondents. This was reflected in the reliability of children's responses, high response rates on the short interview form, and good correspondence between the short and full interview forms. The described adaptations were successful in eliciting information on aspects of children's relationships that might not have been obtained using a traditional interview instrument. This opens the way for further detailed quantitative evaluation of relationships between children with developmental disabilities and peers in inclusive settings.

Inclusive education has become more common in schools, and children with developmental disabilities have had greater opportunities to interact, and hopefully establish relationships with their typically developing peers. While the quality of friendships between typically developing children has been examined in detail, relatively little comparable data is available on children with developmental disabilities. The current study provided an examination of the characteristics of the closest relationships between children with developmental disabilities and peers in inclusive school settings. Twenty-five children with developmental disabilities aged between approximately 5 and 12 years participated. Using an interview instrument, the relationships of these children with 74 peers were examined across six dimensions. Overall, dyads were found to be high in Validation and Caring as well as Help and Guidance, followed by slightly lower levels of Companionship. Intimate Exchange was reported to be lower. Conflict among dyads was also low, and Conflict Resolution was reported to be high when problems did occur. There was a clear differentiation between the highest- and lowest-ranked dyads for children with a disability. Overall, the features of the relationships between children with disabilities and their highest-ranked peer appeared similar in nature to those previously reported between typically developing peers.