BACKGROUND:The recent declines in youth mental health highlight the need for research into the factors underlying distress and those that foster well-being. Open-ended text responses offer the potential to reveal novel insights, but remain an underused resource. Advances in natural language processing (NLP) offer powerful tools for efficiently analyzing text in large samples. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to extract meaningful themes from young adults' open-text responses about their future hopes and worries, and to test associations of these themes with internalizing symptoms. METHOD:Data came from an urban community sample of 24-year-olds (N = 1113) who provided brief written responses about their greatest hopes and worries. A total of 3973 text-segments were analyzed using topic modeling with the Python library BERTopic. Associations of the themes with internalizing symptoms were tested using regression analyses. RESULTS:Thirteen thematic topics for both hopes and worries emerged. Young adults' hopes and worries spanned personal, interpersonal, work-life-finances and broader systemic and global domains. Many themes overlapped, but hopes tended to center more on interpersonal relationships, whereas worries were focused more on systemic and global challenges. Higher levels of internalizing symptoms were associated with more interpersonal and work-, life-, and financial worries, but with fewer systemic concerns, such as climate- or war and conflict- related worries. DISCUSSION:Our work exemplifies diverse, normative, and broadly shared hopes and worries among young adults that are important for youth-focused public policy and psychosocial support. Specific topics associated with internalizing symptoms including financial or interpersonal concerns constitute concrete interventional targets for alleviating distress.

This study investigates the direction of the relationship between police legitimacy beliefs and delinquent behaviour using longitudinal data from Swiss adolescents (z-proso study). Employing a random intercepts cross-lagged panel model, we assess whether police legitimacy influences delinquent behaviour or vice versa. Results show stable within-person effects for police legitimacy beliefs and delinquent behaviour, with varying strength over time. Delinquent behaviour significantly predicts police legitimacy beliefs, but the reverse effect is limited and inconsistent. A highly significant negative association was found at the between-person level, with weak to medium effect sizes overall. This research challenges the idea that police legitimacy beliefs directly reduce delinquent behaviour, suggesting the need for further research on the direction of this relationship. It emphasises the limitations of cross-sectional designs, calling for longitudinal methods and standardised measures for better comparisons. Police legitimacy only weakly and inconsistently predicts delinquent behaviour, highlighting the need to test procedural justice theory against other criminological theories and take the evidence for reverse causality seriously. Practically, strategies focused solely on increasing police legitimacy may not effectively reduce delinquency.

Time is a foundational yet underspecified concept in criminological theory and research. While developmental and life course criminology is explicitly concerned with temporal processes, including the onset, duration, and desistance of criminal behaviour, the precise specification of time in theory and empirical research remains largely implicit. This paper critically examines how time is conceptualized and modelled in criminology, with particular attention to the gap between the temporal assumptions embedded in theory and the designs and methods used to test them. We argue that this underspecification has important consequences for both scientific understanding and practical application, including the design and evaluation of interventions where questions of dosage, timing, and the duration of effects are central. We demonstrate that theoretical and empirical decisions about temporal processes are often driven by convenience or convention rather than explicit reasoning, and that commonly held assumptions about the stability of key constructs over time rest on an insufficient empirical foundation. To address these limitations, we make a case for more formally specifying causal temporal assumptions, integrating measures across micro- and macro-time scales, and adopting research designs, such as ambulatory assessment, experience sampling, and burst designs, capable of capturing how short-term experiences translate into longer-term behavioural change. Greater transparency about temporal assumptions and their empirical basis will strengthen causal inference and improve the design and evaluation of criminological interventions.

Background. Adolescent parenting experiences have enduring implications for emotional functioning in adulthood, yet the dynamic regulatory mechanisms through which these effects operate in daily life remain poorly understood. Methods. Using a longitudinal design, parenting exposure trajectories from age 13 to age 17 were identified via latent class growth analysis (LCGA) on three-wave assessment of authoritarian parenting and parental support (N = 451). Following exclusions for class assignment certainty and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data density, multilevel vector autoregressive network analysis (mlVAR) was applied to 14-day EMA data (N = 270; 4 beeps/day) across the LCGA-defined parenting exposure classes to estimate temporal and contemporaneous networks of perceived stress, hostile affect, rumination and suppression. Results. We identified four parenting exposure classes involving Supportive (low authoritarian-high support), Controlling-Supportive (moderate authoritarian-high support), authoritarian (high authoritarian-low support) and Moderate (mid-level on both dimensions). Higher parental support was associated with looser contemporaneous and temporal network density, indicating affective system flexibility, whereas authoritarian parenting was related to rigidity, marked by more persistent hostility and a more pronounced effect of rumination on concurrent affective dynamics. Conclusion. Our results highlight the enduring day-to-day affective functioning correlates of the adolescent family environment on emotional outcomes in the transition to adulthood delineating the differential impact of distinct parenting practices.

Introduction:Longitudinal, population-based studies of how youth substance use (SU) varies by sexual attraction, sex and their interaction remain scarce, especially in Europe. This study examines poly-SU (PSU) trajectories at 17, 20 and 24; disparities between sexual minority (SM) youth and heterosexual (HET) youth regarding these trajectories; and their correlates. Methods:We obtained data from the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood. SU was self-reported by n=1384 participants at 17, 20 and 24, and hair-tested at 20 and 24. Regression models included SM status, sex, their interaction, sociodemographic variables and psychosocial variables. This population-based longitudinal cohort analysis used linear mixed-effect models to examine developmental trajectories. Results:The proportion of SM youth increased from 11.3% at 17 to 23.4% at 24. At 20 and 24, SM were more likely than HET youth to have used cannabis, stimulants, ecstasy and hallucinogens in the past year. At 17, SM females reported high SU, which increased until 20, then plateaued or declined by 24, approaching those of HET males. SM males exhibited lower use at 17, but this sharply increased, reaching the highest levels by 24. HET females reported the lowest use. SM females had higher tobacco use, whereas SM males showed steep increases in alcohol, cannabis and stimulant use, surpassing all other groups regarding PSU by 24. Peer SU, low self-control, sensation-seeking and internalising symptoms predicted SU-related outcomes. Conclusions:Our findings on distinct developmental timing of the increases and escalation in SU highlight important opportunities for public health intervention, indicating that prevention efforts should be strategically timed and tailored to the unique escalation patterns observed among SM youth.

Adolescent screen use is heterogeneous, varying across dimensions such as activity type, time spent, purpose, and content exposure, with patterns that may persist or shift over time. However, little is known about how such heterogeneity relates to later psychosocial functioning in everyday life. Using combined longitudinal cohort and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data, this study examined trajectories of screen time (computer gaming, internet surfing/chatting, TV/DVD viewing) and media content exposure (pornography, horror, violence-related material) across adolescence and their associations with day-to-day psychosocial functioning in emerging adulthood. Data were drawn from the longitudinal cohort z-proso, and its add-on two-burst EMA study (D2M), using convenience subsamples of z-proso. Joint trajectories of screen activities (ages 11,13,15,17) and content types (ages 13,15,17,20) were modelled in z-proso (analytic sample n = 1521). Daily psychosocial functioning was assessed in the D2M at ages 21 (n = 255) and 27 (n = 451), defined according to levels, inertia, variability, and cross-lagged relations between EMA-measured experiences. Based on trajectory groups identified, dynamic structural equation modelling showed that the high TV/DVD and chatting/surfing, moderate-content group exhibited higher daily aggression levels and variability, and aggressive reactivity. The high gaming, high-content group displayed greater cannabis use, aggressive reactivity, and provocation inertia. The moderate-use, escalatingcontent group showed higher stress variability, aggression inertia, aggressive reactivity, and cannabis use. The low-use, low-content group displayed the most adaptive daily functioning. These findings underscore the importance of jointly considering adolescent screen time and media content patterns, given the distinct relations of different joint trajectories to (mal-)adaptive dimensions of psychosocial functioning into adulthood.

Violent extremism in the context of conspiracy belief poses growing societal challenges, yet developmental pathways remain poorly understood. Shattered safety—a developmental state defined by bullying victimization, emotional distress, and distrust—may lead adolescents to view the world as unsafe and unfair, heightening susceptibility to conspiracy and extremist narratives. In this study, Growth Mixture Models were conducted to identify different trajectories of shattered safety throughout adolescence, as potential developmental pathway for conspiracy mentality and violent extremist attitudes in young adulthood. Participants were 1,482 adolescents from the ongoing longitudinal Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood ( 50

BACKGROUND:Hair concentrations of cortisol and cortisone are increasingly used as potential biomarkers of chronic stress. However, their validity as indicators of psychosocial stress remains debated, as prior research shows variable associations with stress-related psychological and behavioral factors. This study systematically investigates a broad set of biopsychosocial correlates of hair glucocorticoids in young adults, leveraging a multiverse framework to evaluate the robustness of associations often reported as variable in prior work. METHODS:Using data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood, a large community-based age cohort, we employed a multiverse analysis to explore relationships between more than 60 biological, psychological, and contextual variables and three hair-based outcomes (cortisol, cortisone, and a combined score of both) at ages 20 (n = 1,002) and 24 (n = 887). Specification curve analyses were performed on the full sample and separately by sex, systematically varying model choices (i.e., inclusion/exclusion of covariates). RESULTS:Hair characteristics (i.e., color, washing intensity, chemical treatment), sampling season, body mass index, and, among women, hormonal contraception, showed strong associations with glucocorticoids and were included as covariates. Sweating intensity was associated with glucocorticoids primarily in females, but not in males. Hair concentrations of drugs (i.e., Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cocaine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA, "Ecstasy"], paracetamol) and the hormone testosterone were consistently linked to steroid outcomes. Several psychosocial factors were associated with hair glucocorticoids: migration background, perceived stress, symptoms of anxiety/depression, sports activity, and social exclusion. These factors exhibited stronger correlations with cortisol, while media use, aggression, and effective coping were more closely associated with cortisone. The combined steroid score mainly reflected associations detected for cortisol, but with weaker effect sizes. Associations varied descriptively by age and sex, with more associations detected in males at age 20 and in females at age 24. CONCLUSION:In cohort studies, corticosteroids in hair can reflect specific facets of psychosocial stress when critical confounders and sex are considered.

BACKGROUND:Large-scale population-based studies of risk and protective factors for youth mental health rarely assess youths' first-hand experiences in their own words. This longitudinal study analyzed young people's self-reported most important life events and examined how the key topics changed from midadolescence to young adulthood and are associated with internalizing symptoms. METHODS:N = 1,442 participants from an urban, multiethnic cohort reported their most important life events at ages 15, 17, 20, and 24 in open-text segments. Themes in N = 5,670 descriptions were analyzed using topic modeling with the Python library BERTopic. RESULTS:Most reported events were positive in valence (83.1%), and were often 'normative', commonly occurring experiences spanning diverse life domains (education and career development, social relationships, leisure activities and successes, mental health and well-being, and other life transitions and independence). Event topics displayed systematic developmental shifts from midadolescence to adulthood. Higher internalizing symptoms were associated with a greater likelihood of reporting interpersonal and stressful events rather than positive or achievement-related ones. CONCLUSIONS:Longitudinal population-based research can draw on open-text data and employ NLP techniques to assess young people's lived experiences. The predominance of positive events and their associations with internalizing symptoms suggest that an increased focus on promoting beneficial experiences, next to reducing stressful events, may promote youth mental health.

Introduction The choice to die by suicide is ultimately a choice to forgo a future and to forgo a self. How the self is conceptualized in the future can therefore be relevant to understanding what causes people to contemplate ending their life. Methods We assess the relationships between two domains of future self-continuity – valence and connectedness – and suicidal ideation at ages 20 and 24 among a representative cohort sample of Swiss urban youth (n=1178), controlling for negative affect and sex using hurdle regression models. We then assess the longitudinal nature of these relationships using a cross-lagged panel model. Results Results show that future self valence at age 20 uniquely and negatively associates with concurrent and future (age 24) suicidal ideation. Future self connectedness at age 20 is inconsistently and negatively associated with concurrent and future suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation at age 20 does not predict future self perceptions at age 24. Conclusion Future self-continuity, in particular, future self valence, plays an important role in suicidal ideation. As a broadly applicable and malleable construct, future self-continuity may be an effective focus of future suicidal ideation interventions.

Physical youth-to-parent aggression (PYPA) is among the most understudied forms of family aggression in the general population. This study examined the prevalence and developmental course of PYPA from adolescence into young adulthood and investigated childhood behavioral and interpersonal risk (e.g., ADHD symptoms, low self-control, harsh parenting) as well as protective factors (e.g., conflict coping, parental involvement). Data came from six assessments of the prospective-longitudinal Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso), including N = 1522 participants. Participants reported PYPA at ages 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, and 24. Risk and protective factors were measured at or before age 11. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the developmental course of PYPA, and logistic regression analyses examined its risk and protective factors. One in three youth (32.5%) reported engaging in PYPA at least once. Prevalence followed a cubic trajectory: increasing from age 11 to 13, then declining at varying rates through age 24. ADHD symptoms (OR (95%CI) = 1.26 (1.10, 1.45)), harsh parenting (OR (95%CI) = 1.24 (1.08, 1.42)), and interparental disagreement (OR (95%CI) = 1.17 (1.01, 1.35)) were associated with higher odds of PYPA; whereas competent conflict coping (OR (95%CI) = 0.83 (0.72, 0.96)) and parental involvement (OR (95%CI) = 0.83 (0.72, 0.95)) were associated with lower odds after accounting for participants' aggressive tendencies during childhood. Reducing children's aggressive tendencies and exposure to aggression and conflict, while fostering competent coping skills and supportive family environments could decrease PYPA and the burden of family aggression.

Background:Future time perspective dimensions have been linked to various mental illnesses. Given the tendency for mental illnesses to co-occur, it is necessary to disentangle associations between future-oriented constructs and shared versus symptom-domain-specific psychopathology. Methods:After conducting a factor analysis to establish an optimal factor structure of the psychopathology data from Wave 8 of the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood study (N = 1180; M age ≈ 20), this study examined the associations between mental illness dimensions and two future time perspective components: future self-connectedness and future self-valence. Results:An S-1 bifactor specification was selected for primary interpretation. Both future time perspective components were negatively associated with internalising, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, psychosis-like dimensions, and substance use, alongside a S-1 aggression factor. Conclusion:These findings suggest transdiagnostic relevance of self-connectedness and future self-valence but should be considered preliminary given single-item measurement and limited construct coverage. Replication with more comprehensive measures is warranted.

Abstract Trust in others plays an important role in psychological development. However, longitudinal and developmentally informed research on trust remains limited and fragmented across disciplines. This study aimed to investigate the developmental course of generalized trust from adolescence into young adulthood, and to test sociodemographic, family-level, and peer victimization-related antecedents of trust in an urban cohort. Generalized trust was self-reported at age 13, 15, 17, 20, and 24 in the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso; n = 1,481). Mean-level and rank-order stability of trust were described. Growth trajectories were modeled using longitudinal linear mixed models (LMMs). Sociodemographic and childhood family-level factors, and longitudinal peer victimization were tested as predictors of trust. Mean-levels of trust followed a curvilinear trajectory characterized by an early decline from age 13 to 17 (Cohen’s d = -.48) and a slight increase from age 17 to 24 (d = .11). Rank-order stability of trust increased throughout adolescence (Spearman’s r = .40 to 0.58). Notably, socioeconomic disadvantage and migration background were each associated with widening trust disparities over time. Individuals from more disadvantaged backgrounds showed lower and more slowly recovering trust trajectories compared to their more advantaged peers. Maternal trust and parental involvement were associated with higher trust, whereas aversive parenting and parental divorce or separation were linked with lower trust. Peer victimization was associated with lower trust, while increases in peer victimization showed the strongest associations with trust at ages 17 and 20. Generalized trust is a malleable yet increasingly stable construct from adolescence into adulthood. Childhood and adolescent risk and protective factors are important contributors to trust development and should be considered when designing developmentally informed policies and interventions.

Background Emerging adulthood is a developmental period marked by heightened risk for illicit substance use, potentially influencing neurocognitive development and mental health. However, longitudinal and objective data on changing patterns of substance use and their associated neuropsychiatric outcomes remain scarce. Methods This Swiss longitudinal cohort study included 731 emerging adults. Hair concentrations of 100+ psychoactive substances and metabolites were assessed at ages 20 and 24. Latent profile analysis was used to derive profiles of change in recent substance use. Regression models examined associations with cognitive functioning (attention, working memory, declarative memory, composite score) measured at age 24 using the CANTAB, and mental health symptoms assessed at both ages 20 and 24 using the Social Behavior Questionnaire. Results Among participants with substance use at either timepoint (n=440), five distinct change profiles were identified: Low/Decreasers (n=288, 65.5%), Cannabis Increasers (n=48, 10.9%), Club Drug Increasers (n=40, 9.1%), Medical Stimulant Increasers (n=43, 9.8%), and Medical Sedative Increasers (n=21, 4.8%). Compared to participants with no hair-tested substance use (n=291), Cannabis Increasers showed lower attention (d=0.34) and elevated anxiety-depressive (d=0.53) and ADHD symptoms (d=0.38). Club Drug Increasers performed worse on attention (d=0.41) and composite cognitive scores (d=0.39). Medical Sedative Increasers showed lower attention (d=0.74), working memory (d=0.58), and composite cognitive performance (d=0.76). Medical Stimulant Increasers showed markedly elevated ADHD symptoms (d=0.82). Conclusion Emerging adults’ profiles of change in recent substance use were associated with specific cognitive and mental health risks. Objective, longitudinal monitoring of substance use could inform targeted prevention strategies during this sensitive developmental period.

BACKGROUND:Substance use has consistently been linked with cognitive impairments. However, most previous studies have focused on highly selective samples of individuals with chronic substance use disorders and have typically relied solely on self-reports. The associations between recreational use patterns of single or multiple substances and cognitive functioning in representative samples remain unclear. METHODS:We measured over 100 substances and their metabolites over the past 3 months in 850 young adults (48.6% female, Mage = 24.4) from a community-based cohort, using quantitative hair analysis. We assessed sustained attention, working memory, declarative memory, and a total cognitive performance index using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. We regressed cognition on hair substance concentrations, adjusting for sex, household socioeconomic status, migration background, education, gaming experience, and self-reported daily tobacco and alcohol use. RESULTS:In their hair samples, 386 (45.5%) participants tested positive for at least one psychotropic substance other than alcohol and nicotine. Higher hair concentrations of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Cohen's d = 0.40) and codeine (d = 0.22) were associated with lower sustained attention; higher concentrations of ketamine (d = 0.59) with worse declarative memory. Higher hair concentrations of cocaine and a higher polysubstance use severity index (PSUSI) were associated with both reduced attention (cocaine: d = 0.21; PSUSI: d = 0.30) and declarative memory (cocaine: d = 0.20; PSUSI: d = 0.29). CONCLUSIONS:In this community sample of young adults, substance use was highly prevalent and associated with reduced cognitive performance, with small-to-moderate effect sizes. Cognitive consequences of recreational substance use may have been previously underestimated.

Cannabis use in adolescence has been linked to lower adult cognitive function, but the specific contributions of age of onset and usage frequency remain unclear. This study analyzed data from the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso; N = 1522) to examine associations between adolescent cannabis use and cognitive performance at young adulthood. Cannabis use frequency was self-reported at six time points between ages 11 and 24. Sustained attention, spatial working memory, and visuospatial declarative memory were assessed at age 24. Regressions, repeated-measures ANOVAs with Helmert contrasts, and latent class growth analyses were conducted, all adjusted for prior cannabis use and key sociodemographic and behavioral confounders. Cannabis use at ages 13, 17, and 20 was linked to reduced attention and declarative memory at age 24, especially among almost daily/daily users. No associations were found with spatial working memory. Four usage trajectories were identified but did not differ in cognitive outcomes. Findings highlight nuanced associations, with early and frequent use linked to poorer cognitive performance.

Recent theory predicts that young people's emotional reactions are important in the impact of social media use on their mental health. Here we explore this using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data measuring social media use and emotion within the 2-week 'Decades-to-minutes' (D2M) study (n = 255). Dynamic structural equation modelling (DSEM) was used to examine the within-person relations between social media use and negative emotion (and vice versa), as well as the relations between negative emotions following social media use (defined as the within-person cross-lagged effect of social media use on negative affect) and depression. Results suggested a significant concurrent relation between social media use and negative emotion but no significant association between social media use and later negative emotion, or vice versa. They also suggested no significant relation between negative emotion following social media use and depression but a significant relation between social media inertia (stability of social media use from timepoint to timepoint) and depression. Our study illustrates the feasibility of capturing emotional dynamics in relation to social media use 'in ecological context' and their relations to mental health risk. It suggests that patterns of social media use (e.g., sustained versus intermittent use over and above levels of engagement) merit further research attention in terms of their association with mental health. Recommendations for future research include using shorter inter-prompt intervals to capture more immediate emotional reactions to social media use, and the development of more comprehensive EMA measures of social media use.

This article examines the relationship between maternal exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), intimate partner violence (IPV), and two aspects of maternal mental well-being-stress and depressive symptoms in the context of Tirana, Albania. Data were obtained from a representative sample of 328 mothers of 2-3-year-old children, who were registered in Tirana's public nurseries. Findings show that maternal ACEs are positively associated with stress levels (β = .210, z = 4.03, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (β = .129, z = 2.62, p < .01). In addition, IPV partially mediates the effect of ACEs on maternal stress (β = .081, z = 3.75, p < .001) and fully mediates the effect of ACEs on depressive symptoms (β = .054, z = 2.87, p < .01). These results suggest that among mothers of toddlers in Tirana, ACEs influence stress levels both directly and via IPV, while they influence depressive symptoms only via IPV. The findings demonstrate long-term effects of maternal exposure to interpersonal violence on mental well-being.

BACKGROUND Adolescent peer victimization (PV) is a prevalent social stressor associated with potential long-term psychological and physiological consequences. Yet, the mechanisms underlying enduring alterations in stress-regulatory systems remain underexplored. This multimodal study examines autonomic, endocrine, and affective reactivity in young adults with a history of severe PV. METHODS Eyeblink startle electromyograms, pupil dilation, hair cortisol, resting heart rate variability, and self-reported state anxiety were assessed in 182 young adults (age 22) with longitudinal data on adolescent PV (ages 11–20). Effects were estimated using a counterfactual framework with genetically informed inverse probability weighting—leveraging polygenic risk scores and genetic ancestry—and adjustment for time-varying confounders. RESULTS Victims exhibited heightened startle amplitudes compared to controls, with negative stimuli (angry faces) further exaggerating amplitude and prolonging latency. Pupil dilation increased in response to negative stimuli, but was otherwise blunted. Victims also showed reduced resting heart rate variability, elevated hair cortisol, and slower state anxiety recovery across the session. Depression moderated several effects; more depressed victims showed hypocortisolism and reduced autonomic reactivity. CONCLUSIONS Findings provide converging evidence and mechanistic insight into potential links between PV and trauma-like physiological effects, suggesting sustained alterations into young adulthood. Targeted interventions are needed to reduce PV and its stress-related dysregulation, preventing potential long-term psychiatric and societal sequelae. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Swiss National Sci- ence Foundation, 10531C-197964, 405240- 69025, 100013 116829, 100014 132124, 100014 149979, 10FI14 170409 Jacobs Foundation, 2010-888, 2013-1081-1 Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, 2.001391, 8.000665 Canton of Zurich’s Department of Education Swiss Federal Commission on Migration, 03-901 (IMES), E-05-1076 Julius Baer Foundation Visana Foundation