Adolescence is a period of substantial social-emotional development, accompanied by dramatic changes to brain structure and function. Social isolation due to lockdowns that were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, with the mental health of females more affected than males. We assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on adolescent brain structure with a focus on sex differences. We collected MRI structural data longitudinally from adolescents prior to and after the pandemic lockdowns. The pre-COVID data were used to create a normative model of cortical thickness change with age during typical adolescent development. Cortical thickness values in the post-COVID data were compared to this normative model. The analysis revealed accelerated cortical thinning in the post-COVID brain, which was more widespread throughout the brain and greater in magnitude in females than in males. When measured in terms of equivalent years of development, the mean acceleration was found to be 4.2 y in females and 1.4 y in males. Accelerated brain maturation as a result of chronic stress or adversity during development has been well documented. These findings suggest that the lifestyle disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns caused changes in brain biology and had a more severe impact on the female than the male brain.

Adolescence is a formative life phase for the development of personality characteristics. Although past findings suggest Big Five traits alongside self-esteem as indicators for successful development, little is known about their longitudinal interplay. We addressed this research gap by integrating data from three longitudinal studies (NT1 = 1,088; Mage = 16.02 years, 72% female). We apply continuous time modeling to investigate longitudinal associations between Big Five traits and self-esteem in a period of up to 1 year. Results illustrate four main findings: First, rank-order stabilities were overall high for all personality characteristics. Second, longitudinal associations between Big Five traits and self-esteem were reciprocal for extraversion, neuroticism, and openness but one-sided for agreeableness and conscientiousness on self-esteem. Effects peaked within the first month and mostly faded after 2 months. Third, the majority of cross-effects were similar in size; however, the effect from neuroticism on later values of self-esteem was stronger than vice versa. Fourth, most effects were robust against influences of gender, age, and study characteristics. Analyses with acquaintance-reports supported the results but suggested stronger effects that lasted longer than effects of self-reports. We conclude that the development of personality characteristics acts as possible sources of development for each other. All in all, the interplay between Big Five and self-esteem development appears reciprocal for some traits but was most often driven by Big Five traits. We integrate our findings into three contrasting theoretical perspectives and discuss the importance of time for a better understanding of personality development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The development and refinement of neuronal circuitry allow for stabilized and efficient neural recruitment, supporting adult-like behavioral performance. During adolescence, the maturation of PFC is proposed to be a critical period (CP) for executive function, driven by a break in balance between glutamatergic excitation and GABAergic inhibition (E/I) neurotransmission. During CPs, cortical circuitry fine-tunes to improve information processing and reliable responses to stimuli, shifting from spontaneous to evoked activity, enhancing the SNR, and promoting neural synchronization. Harnessing 7T MR spectroscopy and EEG in a longitudinal cohort (N = 164, ages 10-32 years, 283 neuroimaging sessions), we outline associations between age-related changes in glutamate and GABA neurotransmitters and EEG measures of cortical SNR. We find developmental decreases in spontaneous activity and increases in cortical SNR during our auditory steady state task using 40 Hz stimuli. Decreases in spontaneous activity were associated with glutamate levels in DLPFC, while increases in cortical SNR were associated with more balanced Glu and GABA levels. These changes were associated with improvements in working memory performance. This study provides evidence of CP plasticity in the human PFC during adolescence, leading to stabilized circuitry that allows for the optimal recruitment and integration of multisensory input, resulting in improved executive function.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the evidence pertaining to associations between growth, maturation and injury in elite youth athletes.
METHODS: Scoping review.
METHODS: Electronic databases (SPORTDiscus, Embase, PubMed, MEDLINE and Web of Science) searched on 30 May 2023.
METHODS: Original studies published since 2000 using quantitative or qualitative designs investigating associations between growth, maturation and injury in elite youth athletes.
RESULTS: From an initial 518 titles, 36 full-text articles were evaluated, of which 30 were eligible for final inclusion. Most studies were quantitative and employed prospective designs. Significant heterogeneity was evident across samples and in the operationalisation and measurement of growth, maturation and injury. Injury incidence and burden generally increased with maturity status, although growth-related injuries peaked during the adolescent growth spurt. More rapid growth in stature and of the lower limbs was associated with greater injury incidence and burden. While maturity timing did not show a clear or consistent association with injury, it may contribute to risk and burden due to variations in maturity status.
CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that the processes of growth and maturation contribute to injury risk and burden in elite youth athletes, although the nature of the association varies with injury type. More research investigating the main and interactive effects on growth and maturation on injury is warranted, especially in female athletes and across a greater diversity of sports.

BACKGROUND: The term contribution is a key feature of approaches to positive youth development but has yet to be adequately defined. The purposes of this study were to identify properties that underlie contribution and to establish a theoretical definition of the construct.
METHODS: A two-phase scoping review was conducted. The first phase involved the systematic search, selection, and analysis of studies from which six properties of contribution were identified and a preliminary theoretical definition was constructed. In the second phase expert judges rated the degree to that the proposed definition and the six properties of contribution fit with their conceptualization of the construct on a 6-point scale.
RESULTS: Mean ratings for the definition and the six properties ranged from 5.05 to 5.70. Judges\' ratings for the overall definition of contribution and the six properties were evaluated using Aiken\'s content validity coefficient (V). All V coefficients ranged in size from 0.81 to 0.94 and were statistically significant (p\'s < .01) indicating that the definition of contribution and the corresponding six properties fit well with experts\' conceptualizations of the construct.
CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a theoretical definition of contribution that will serve as a foundation upon which future research in the area of positive youth development can build.

Knowledge from the Global South, including Latin America, has enriched our understanding of developmental science. Despite underrepresentation in the published literature, research from Latin America has advanced the psychology of parenting and child and adolescent development. An ecological approach is valuable in adding meaning and specificity to general cultural clusters and has revealed how responsibility, lovingness, and respect are enacted in the everyday lives of families and children. Although the evidence is not exclusive to the Global South, research from Latin America has broadened and challenged theories and accepted practices from the Global North. Examples include countering attachment theory with respect to multiple caregivers and sensitive responsiveness and problematization of children\'s work in terms of family responsibilities. Research from Latin America has also challenged the notion of optimal parenting styles and revealed how the cultural values of familism and respect are evidenced in the daily practices of parents and children. Latin America boasts a psychology that acknowledges the importance of the political and social context and seeks to apply psychology to addressing social problems. To fully recognize and take advantage of knowledge from the Global South, the science of psychology should refrain from promoting \"best practices\" and sidelining research from Latin America and other regions of the majority world; it needs to fully document autochthonous parental ethnotheories, socialization goals, and practices and promote the implementation of the goals of local communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Wanting to matter-to feel socially recognized, appreciated, and capable of actions that benefit others-represents a fundamental motivation in human development. The motivational salience of mattering appears to increase in adolescence. Evidence suggests this is related to pubertal increases in the incentive salience for gaining social value and personal agency. This can provide a useful heuristic for understanding motivational proclivities (i.e. wanting to matter) that influence action-outcome learning as young adolescents are exploring and learning how to navigate increasingly complex social and relational environments. Adolescence also brings new capacities, motives, and opportunities for learning to care about and contribute to the benefit of others. Together, these create a window of opportunity: a sensitive period for learning to gain salient feelings of mattering through caring prosocial actions and valued societal contributions. Successfully discovering ways of mattering by doing things that matter to others may contribute to formative socio-emotional learning about self/other. Advances in understanding these social and relational learning processes and their neurodevelopmental underpinnings can inform strategies to improve developmental trajectories of social competence and wellbeing among adolescents growing up in a rapidly changing and increasingly techno-centric world.

Grit, defined as passion and perseverance to achieve long-term goals, has been associated with adolescents\' optimal academic and psychological functioning. However, the role of grit in adolescents\' positive youth development (PYD)-characterized by the 5Cs known as competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring-remains unknown. Using latent cross-lagged panel modeling, this study examined the longitudinal relations between the triarchic model of grit (TMG) dimensions (i.e., perseverance of effort, consistency of interest, and adaptability to situations), and the 5Cs of PYD while controlling for specific socio-demographic covariates (gender, age, SES, and school type). Data were obtained from 1620 Filipino adolescents (Mage = 17.15; SDage = 1.00) in November 2021 and May 2022. Results show that grit dimensions predicted subsequent PYD dimensions, but not vice versa. Specifically, while perseverance and adaptability were linked to higher levels of competence, confidence, and character, consistency was associated with lower levels of competence and confidence six months later. Results highlight the importance of grit\'s dimensions in facilitating PYD characteristics among adolescents, especially efficacy-related Cs (competence and confidence). Theoretical and practical implications in promoting adolescent thriving and well-being are discussed.

Adolescent development of human brain structural and functional networks is increasingly recognized as fundamental to emergence of typical and atypical adult cognitive and emotional proodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data collected from N [Formula: see text] 300 healthy adolescents (51%; female; 14 to 26 y) each scanned repeatedly in an accelerated longitudinal design, to provide an analyzable dataset of 469 structural scans and 448 functional MRI scans. We estimated the morphometric similarity between each possible pair of 358 cortical areas on a feature vector comprising six macro- and microstructural MRI metrics, resulting in a morphometric similarity network (MSN) for each scan. Over the course of adolescence, we found that morphometric similarity increased in paralimbic cortical areas, e.g., insula and cingulate cortex, but generally decreased in neocortical areas, and these results were replicated in an independent developmental MRI cohort (N [Formula: see text] 304). Increasing hubness of paralimbic nodes in MSNs was associated with increased strength of coupling between their morphometric similarity and functional connectivity. Decreasing hubness of neocortical nodes in MSNs was associated with reduced strength of structure-function coupling and increasingly diverse functional connections in the corresponding fMRI networks. Neocortical areas became more structurally differentiated and more functionally integrative in a metabolically expensive process linked to cortical thinning and myelination, whereas paralimbic areas specialized for affective and interoceptive functions became less differentiated, as hypothetically predicted by a developmental transition from periallocortical to proisocortical organization of the cortex. Cytoarchitectonically distinct zones of the human cortex undergo distinct neurodevelopmental programs during typical adolescence.

Environmental pollutant is considered to be one of the important factors affecting adolescent growth. However, the effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exposure on adolescent growth have not been assessed. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2018 was used to examine the associations between VOCs exposure and adolescent growth indicators through three statistical models. The mediating effect of bone mineral density (BMD) on these associations was examined. The potential pathways and key targets were identified by the network pharmacology analysis methods. This study included 746 adolescents. Three statistical methods consistently showed a negative correlation between VOCs exposure and adolescent growth indicators. Furthermore, BMD mediated the relationship between VOCs exposure and adolescent growth indicators, with mediated proportion ranging from 4.3 % to 53.4 %. Network pharmacology analysis found a significant enrichment in IL-17 signaling pathway. Moreover, the adverse effects of VOCs exposure on adolescent growth were observed to significantly attenuate in adolescents with high serum vitamin D levels. Our results suggested that VOCs exposure was an adverse factor affecting adolescent growth, with BMD playing a significant regulatory role, and IL-17 signaling pathway was the underlying mechanism. Vitamin D supplementation may be a viable strategy to prevent VOCs exposure from affecting adolescent growth.