Self-control plays a significant role in child and adolescent development. The school environment is suggested as an important factor associated with individual differences in self-control. Among the many facets of school environment, school discipline is thought of as a critical factor that effectively develops students' capacities for…

Cross-sectional research shows that adolescents' social media use (SMU) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-symptoms are related, but it is unclear whether this relation is explained by SMU intensity or by addiction-like SMU problems. Also, due to the lack of longitudinal studies, the direction of this relation remains unknown.…

It is a household notion that secrecy is bad while sharing is good. But what about shared secrets? The present research adopts a functional analysis of sharing secrets, arguing that it should negate harmful consequences generally associated with secrecy and serves important interpersonal functions in adolescence. A survey study among 790 Dutch…

There is little evidence on the association between child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) policies and adolescent mental health. This study examined this association using data on indicators of adolescent mental health--aggressive behavior, life satisfaction, and psychosomatic symptoms--in 172,829 eleven- to fifteen-year-olds from 30 European…

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether an ice-skating exergame can stimulate intercultural social interaction between refugees and Dutch children in controlled play sessions organized at elementary schools. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study based on observations of exergame play sessions and structured interviews conducted after…

This article examines how compulsive Internet use and marital well-being are related to each other. We suggest that they are negatively related and explore whether compulsive Internet use predicts marital well-being or vice versa. The relation between compulsive Internet use and marital well-being is tested in a two-wave prospective study among…

Increasing bodies of evidence suggest that keeping secrets may be detrimental to well-being and adjustment, whereas confiding secrets may alleviate the detriments of secrecy and benefit well-being and adjustment. However, few studies have addressed the consequences of keeping and confiding secrets simultaneously, and even fewer have done so…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders or autistic traits may profit from Internet and computer-mediated interactions, but there is concern about their Internet use becoming compulsive. This study investigated the link between autistic traits and Internet use in a 2-wave longitudinal study with a non-clinical community sample (n = 390). As…

People with ASD have deficits in their social skills and may therefore experience lower relationship satisfaction. This study investigated possible mechanisms to explain whether and how autistic traits, measured with the AQ, influence relationship satisfaction in a non-clinical sample of 195 married couples. More autistic traits were associated…

This article reports on a longitudinal study investigating gender differences in the association between maternal disclosure and adolescents' depressive symptoms. Little research has examined the relationship of parental disclosure to adolescents' depressive symptoms and research on sex differences is particularly lacking. In a sample of 428…

The current longitudinal study examined adolescent gender differences in the developmental changes and relational correlates of secrecy from parents. For 4 successive years, starting in the second year of junior high (mean age at Time 1 = 13.2 years, SD = 0.51), 149 male and 160 female Dutch adolescents reported on secrecy from their parents and…

Investigated cultural differences in the social and relationship aspects of sharing emotions. Indian, immigrant Indian and English adolescents recalled various emotional episodes and discussed the sharing of these experiences. Each emotion had a unique sharing pattern. Cross-cultural differences in sharing highlighted the greater importance and…

Communication between children and parents has been the subject of several studies, examining the effects of, for example, disclosure and secrecy on adolescents' social relationships and adjustment. Less attention has paid to adolescent deception. We developed and tested a new instrument on lying behavior in a sample of 671 parent-adolescent…

A 2-wave survey study among 1173 10-14-year-olds tested the longitudinal contribution of secrecy from parents to psychosocial and behavioral problems in adolescence. Additionally, it investigated a hypothesized contribution of secrecy from parents to adolescent development by examining its relation with self-control. Results showed that keeping…

The article discusses a three-wave longitudinal study that investigates the relationship between self-control and aggressive and delinquent behavior of early adolescent boys and girls. The sample consists of 1,012 Dutch adolescents (mean age = 12.3) in their first year of secondary education. Structural equation modeling analyses reveal that high…