Despite its decrease in many Western countries, cannabis remains the most used illicit substance among adolescents. This study aims to summarize cannabis consumption during the last two decades and project trends among 15-year-olds in the 2021-22 HBSC survey. A Bayesian semi-parametric hierarchical model was adopted to estimate the trend of cannabis consumption using data of about 287,000 adolescents from the 2001/2002 to the 2017/2018 HBSC wave and the 38 countries that met the inclusion criteria. Data show an overall decline in most countries for both boys and girls. However, in 22 countries of 38 cannabis use is expected to increase again in our projection. The discussion of these findings should take into account cultural, policy, social factors and unpredictable events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, that can significantly impact future trends leading to discrepancies between the projected and observed values. However, these discrepancies can provide insight into understanding the potential impact of preventive strategies and the underlying processes responsible for changes in cannabis use over time.

AIMS:To investigate adolescents' perception of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on several aspects of their lives (mental health, well-being, family situation, peers, school, dieting, and physical activity) in relation to risk behaviors such as smoking, alcohol use, drunkenness, and cannabis use. METHODS:Data were used from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted in 2021/2022, comprising 106,221 adolescents aged 11-15 (50.9% females) from 21 European countries. The data analysis plan involved Multilevel Generalized Latent Class Analysis (GLCA) models, latent class membership, and substance use behaviors, with alcohol consumption, smoking, drunkenness, and cannabis use as distal outcomes. FINDINGS:GLCA identified 14 % of the adolescents as negatively or very negatively impacted by the pandemic and 42 % with a positive or very positive impact. The remaining 44 % of adolescents were not attributed with either a negative or positive impact. In the first group, girls, older adolescents, and adolescents from less affluent families were overrepresented. The negatively impacted group was particularly prevalent (>25 %) in countries such as Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, and Poland. Negatively impacted adolescents exhibited a higher risk of smoking, drunkenness, and cannabis use compared to their peers in the positively impacted group after adjusting for sex, age, and family wealth. CONCLUSIONS:Results of the 2021/22 HBSC study highlighted an elevated level of substance use among adolescents who perceived a stronger negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives. These findings indicate that the pandemic has put a particular strain on girls, older and less wealthy adolescents. They highlight the need for special attention and tailor-made interventions to deal with stressful future events that may impact on the life and mental health of these adolescents.

Adolescent mental health and life satisfaction are grounded in social and economic factors. However, studies investigating these relations across European and Asian contexts, using identical questionnaires, are scarce. The 2017/18 Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) study conducted with 4,168 Dutch adolescents (Mage 13.0 years) and 1,948 Hong Kong adolescents (Mage 13.1 years) aged 11, 13, and 15 reported on family status and affluence, school experiences, relations with parents and friends, psychological symptoms (irritability/bad temper, feeling low or nervous, difficulty sleeping), and life satisfaction. Dutch boys had the lowest number of psychological symptoms. Dutch girls and Hong Kong girls and boys reported significantly more symptoms. Dutch boys had the highest level of life satisfaction, followed by Dutch girls and, subsequently, Hong Kong girls and boys. In the Netherlands and Hong Kong, communicative and supportive relationships with parents, low school pressure, school liking, and helpful fellow students related to less psychological symptoms and higher life satisfaction. In addition, family affluence further enhanced life satisfaction. It is concluded that cultural and gender differences may permeate the structuring of adolescent relations with parents, teachers, and peers but that an identical set of social and economic determinants affect adolescent girls' and boys' symptoms and satisfaction in a highly similar fashion in the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

In many high-income countries, the proportion of adolescents who smoke, drink, or engage in other risk be-haviours has declined markedly over the past 25 years. We illustrate this behavioural shift by collating and presenting previously published data (1990-2019) on smoking, alcohol use, cannabis use, early sexual initiation and juvenile crime in Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the USA, also providing European averages where comparable data are available. Then we explore empirical evidence for and against hypothesised causes of these declines. Specifically, we explore whether the declines across risk behaviours can be considered 1) a 'unitary trend' caused by common underlying drivers; 2) separate trends with behaviour-specific causes; or 3) the result of a 'cascade' effect, with declines in one risk behaviour causing declines in others. We find the unitary trend hypothesis has theoretical and empirical support, and there is international evidence that decreasing unstructured face-to-face time with friends is a common underlying driver. Additionally, evidence suggests that behaviour-specific factors have played a role in the decline of tobacco smoking (e.g. decreasing adolescent approval of smoking, increasing strength of tobacco control policies) and drinking (e.g. more restrictive parental rules and attitudes toward adolescent drinking, decreasing ease of access to alcohol). Finally, declining tobacco and alcohol use may have suppressed adolescent cannabis use (and perhaps other risk be-haviours), but evidence for such a cascade is equivocal. We conclude that the causal factors behind the great decline in adolescent risk behaviours are multiple. While broad contextual changes appear to have reduced the opportunities for risk behaviours in general, behaviour-specific factors have also played an important role in smoking and drinking declines, and 'knock-on' effect from these behavioural domains to others are possible. Many hypothesised explanations remain to be tested empirically.

INTRODUCTION:This study offers insights into Dutch young people's expected social and personal consequences of ecstasy use. Substance use expectancies are assumed to be an essential component in explaining substance use behaviour and, therefore, the development of effective substance use prevention and treatment strategies.METHOD:Dutch young adults with an online interest in drug-related social media posts were targeted with an online survey about their use of alcohol and drugs. This resulted in a convenience sample (N = 4182, 73.4% female, Mage = 21.11), of which 35.5% had used ecstasy at least once in their life and 29.3% had used ecstasy last year. Latent class analyses were used to identify subgroups based on both positive and negative expectancies of ecstasy use. Cross-class differences were examined using multinomial logistic regression.RESULTS:This study yielded four distinct classes: only negative expectancies (13.6%), high positive and negative expectancies (23.5%), low to moderate positive and negative expectancies (20.6%), and mostly positive expectancies (22.4%). These classes differed significantly in lifetime experience with ecstasy use, intention to use ecstasy, perception of harmfulness and availability, and social norms regarding the use of ecstasy.CONCLUSION:Findings show that ecstasy use expectancies can be used to create meaningful classes of users and non-users, and that these classes are different enough to warrant varied prevention approaches. Expectancies young people have regarding the use of ecstasy are associated with various ecstasy use-related variables and should be taken into consideration when developing and implementing preventive interventions.

Psychometric characteristics were investigated of an Implicit Association Test to assess implicit endorsement of the sexual double standard (SDS-IAT) in emerging adults. The reliability of the SDS-IAT was investigated focusing on internal consistency across different phases of the test. Convergent validity of the SDS-IAT was evaluated against the Scale for the Assessment of Sexual Standards in Youth, an explicit measure of SDS, and against gender investment. Divergent validity was evaluated against the personality characteristics of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness. Gendered patterns were examined. Attenuation-corrected alphas demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with alphas ranging for .65–.70. A modest level of explicit SDS endorsement was found in both female and male participants. In line with their explicit SDS level, a modest level of implicit SDS endorsement was found in male participants, whereas a reverse implicit SDS was found among young women. In agreement with our theoretical expectations, we found low convergent validity in multitrait-multimethod analysis of the SDS-IAT with a measure of explicit SDS endorsement, and with general level of investment in gender ideals. Similarly, divergent validity analysis revealed absence of significant correlations with the conceptually unrelated concepts of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability proneness, except for extraversion in female participants. The present findings suggest that implicit SDS endorsement can be assessed using the SDS-IAT. The finding that explicit and implicit SDS approvals differ in young female participants, while they align in young male participants, warrants further research.

The influence between cyberbullying (CB) and cybervictimisation (CV) is known to be two-way, but the prominence of the two directions remains unclear especially under the influence of another factor. Uncovering the mystery helps policy makers decide how to allocate the limited resource between interventions against children CB and CV. Since social media becomes increasingly relevant to children cyberaggression, this study utilises two independent mediation models to examine how problematic social media use (PSMU) potentially influence CB-induced-CV (Model 1) and CV-induced-CB (Model 2) and the difference in the proportions of mediated effect between models. As a part of Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, this study included a total of 11178 children (2643 from Hong Kong and 8535 from Netherland). Results showed that the paths in the models did not differ between culture. In Model 1, CB was a significant partial mediator between PSMU and CV, βindirect = .08, p < .001, and CV was a significant partial mediator between PSMU and CB in Model 2, βindirect = .06, p < .001. However, CB mediated 52.78% whilst CV mediated only 28.06% of the total effect from PSMU in respective models. The ratio of mediated effect proportions between models is 1.88:1, indicating that under the influence of PSMU, CB-induced-CV is nearly twice as prominent as CV-induced-CB in a relative sense. Implications on cyberaggression research assumptions are discussed.

Popular American commercial rap is believed to (re)produce cultural narratives of masculinity. Yet, there is no knowledge about the relationship between consumption of idealized masculinity in rap and young (Black) men's senses of masculine selves. This study aims to explore how sixteen American and Dutch Black adolescent men perceive ideals of masculine behavior, physical appearance, and mate desirability in commercial rap. Grounded in social comparison theory, it furthermore aims to understand whether these young men compare themselves to these ideals, and if so, how this informs their self-evaluations. A (hybrid) comparative thematic analysis of interviews with eight U.S. and eight Dutch adolescents revealed three masculinity ideals to be present in rap and congruent with the majority of the respondents' own ideals. First, it is appropriate for young men to be 'playas' and view (young) women as either (sexually) freaky girls or wifey material. Second, attractive men look wealthy, and, third, desirable men financially provide for their partners. The participants who endorsed these ideals and, subsequently, compared themselves to them, reported positive self-evaluations and emotions, which were believed to translate into their own behavior, appearance, and desirability. Interestingly, although the participants came from different cultural contexts, systematic differences in perception, attitude, social comparison and self-evaluation were not found. Suggestions for future research are provided and implications for intervention programs are discussed.

Abstract In the present study we investigated the reliability and validity of an Implicit Association Test of sexual assertiveness (the SA-IAT) in a sample of young adults (n = 159). The D600 algorithm was used to calculate implicit sexual assertiveness scores. Explicit sexual assertiveness was measured using a selection of items from the Hurlbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness. Personality traits were assessed using the revised, short version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The internal consistency of the SA-IAT was evaluated based on split-half reliability, and found acceptable with α = 0.61 for the practice trials, and α = 0.70 for the test trials, after correction for attenuation. Convergent and divergent validity were evaluated using correlation analysis. Correlation with explicit sexual assertiveness was found to be low, as expected. Divergent validity of the SA-IAT was evaluated against the personality traits of extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability. Except for a significant correlation of implicit sexual assertiveness with extraversion in the full sample and the female subsample, implicit sexual assertiveness and personality traits were not found to share variance, as expected.

ABSTRACT Introduction This study aimed at differentiating normative developmental turmoil from prodromal depressive symptoms in adolescence. Method Negative and positive mood (daily) in different contexts (friends, home, school), and (subsequent) depressive symptoms were assessed in Dutch adolescents. Results & conclusion Mixture modeling on one cross‐sectional study, using a newly developed questionnaire (CSEQ; subsample 1a; n = 571; girls 55.9%; Mage = 14.17) and two longitudinal datasets with Experience Sampling Methods data (subsample 1b: n = 241; Mage = 13.81; 62.2% girls, sample 2: n = 286; 59.7% girls; Mage = 14.19) revealed three mood profiles: 18–24% “happy”, 43–53% “typically developing”, and 27–38% “at‐risk”. Of the “at‐risk” profile between 12.5% and 25% of the adolescents scored above the clinical cut‐off for depression. These mood profiles predicted later depressive symptoms, while controlling for earlier symptoms. In subsample 1b, parents were not always aware of the mental health status of their adolescent.

This research longitudinally explored adolescent pornography (porn) consumption and its association with sexual development in early and middle adolescence. A four-wave design with half-year intervals investigated pornography consumption and different (sexual) activities, such as masturbation, French kissing, petting, giving/receiving manual and oral sex, and intercourse, among 630 respondents (47.9% female, mean age 13.7 years; SD = 0.48) years at T1). A latent growth mixture analysis of pornography consumption revealed two groups with relatively low pornography (LP; 51.8% of the boys, 91.4% of the girls) versus high pornography (HP; 48.2% of the boys; 8.6% of the girls) consumption across time. At T1, HP boys on average watched pornography less than once a month, but more than once a year at T1. At T4, their average pornography use had increased to almost one to two times a week. LP boys never watched pornography at T1. At T4, their average pornography use was still less than once a year. At T1, HP girls never watched pornography, but consumption increased to almost one to three times a month at T4. Across waves of the study, LP girls (almost) never watched pornography. A discrete-time survival mixture analysis of sexual developmental patterning indicated that, compared to their LP peers, both girls and boys in the HP groups showed accelerated development of masturbation, petting, and receiving manual sex. Girls in the HP group were also more inclined to receive oral sex, whereas boys in the HP group also showed earlier and more frequent manual sex and intercourse. Thus, whereas the HP group of boys was substantially larger compared to that of girls, pornography consumption was related to accelerated development of sexual activities for both genders across early and middle adolescence. The discussion deliberates on pornography as a driving force in adolescent sexual development versus pornography as a medium of choice for sexually advanced adolescents.

This research explored both social context and personal characteristics in relation to being saddened by sad music when in a sad mood. Overall, 1686 respondents (aged 12–16 years; 44% female; 68% vocational training) answered questions about their background, social context (family climate, bullying issues), personal characteristics (depressive mood, self-esteem, social comparison style), and the degree to which they were saddened by listening to sad music. About 17% of the participants reported saddened mood as a consequence of listening to sad music when sad. Multivariate linear regression results revealed that female respondents and those who reported elevated levels of depressive mood and negative social comparison to peers were more likely to feel saddened. These young people further showed strained peer relations, as indicated by being bullied on social network sites and the Internet. Harsh family climate and low self-esteem correlated with the saddened mood-inducing effect of sad music, although they were not significant in multivariate analysis. This pattern of person and context relations with saddened mood was identical for girls and boys. Adolescents generally seek music that is mood-congruent; however, this research questioned whether adolescents with problems should dwell on music that reflects their unhappy state, as this may worsen their mood.

The popularity of social media use among adolescents has raised concerns about the potentially harmful effects of social media use on adolescents' sleep. Since longitudinal research considering this relationship is scarce, the present two-wave longitudinal study of 2021 secondary school students (Mage = 13.86, SD = 1.25) examined whether frequency of social media use and problematic social media use predicted adolescents' bedtime and quality of sleep. Moreover, the protective role of parental rules regarding Internet and smartphone use one hour before sleep was examined. The findings indicated that strict parental rules about Internet and smartphone use before sleep might prevent negative consequences of social media use on bedtime and sleep quality, but only among less engaged social media users. Once adolescents are highly engaged social media users, strict parental rules do not seem to prevent negative media influences on sleep. This implies that limiting Internet accessibility before bedtime can help prevent adolescents' sleep problems, but that regulation is less effective for adolescents who are already highly involved in social media use.

Identification with Goth youth culture has been related to elevated levels of depression, self-harm and suicide ideation. However, this identification may be difficult to assess as Goth is stigmatized and adolescents may hesitate to self-identify. Conversely, adolescents readily respond to questions on their music preferences. This study addresses the potential link between liking Goth music and depressive symptoms in a four-year study among 10 to 15-year-olds (N = 940,Mage = 12.4 at T1, 49% female). In this study, it was found that Goth music is only liked by a small minority of adolescents (4 to 11%). Both girls and boys who liked Goth music reported increased levels of depressive symptoms as they grew older. The findings of this study suggest that a preference for Goth music emerges as an early, sensitive marker of dormant or developing depressive symptoms in adolescents. The mechanisms through which music preferences can translate into or sustain depressive symptoms are discussed.

This study explored 19 themes embedded in the lyrics of 1,040 U.S. top-40 songs from 1960 through 2010, using R strucchange software to identify trends and breaks in trends. Findings reveal both continuity and change. As in 1960, the predominant topic of pop music remains romantic and sexual relationships. However, whereas the proportion of lyrics referring to relationships in romantic terms remained stable, the proportion including reference to sex-related aspects of relationships increased sharply. References to lifestyle issues such as dancing, alcohol and drugs, and status/wealth increased substantially, particularly in the 2000s. Other themes were far less frequent: Social/political issues, religion/God, race/ethnicity, personal identity, family, friends showed a modest occurrence in top-40 music throughout the studied period and showed no dramatic changes. Violence and death occurred in a small number of songs, and both increased, particularly since the 1990s. References to hate/hostility, suicide, and occult matters were very rare. Results are examined in the context of cultural changes in the social position of adolescents, and more specifically in light of the increased popularity of rap/hip-hop music, which may explain the increases in references to sex, partying, dancing, drug use, and wealth.

In line with a Dynamic Self-Regulatory Processing Model of narcissism (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001), the present study adopted a motivated self-construction perspective to examine longitudinal associations from adolescent narcissism to youth's social media disclosures, problematic social media use, and smartphone stress, respectively. Adolescents' attention-seeking motives were examined as a mediator of these over-time associations. In line with this model's account of self-image failure, we also expected that narcissistic youth's attention-seeking should increase following experiences of ego threat, such as social rejection. These hypotheses were tested with two waves of self-report data, spaced one year apart, among 307 adolescents aged 12-15 at T1 (M-age = 12.87, SD = 0.75). In line with predictions, earlier adolescent narcissism predicted later social media disclosure, problematic use, and smartphone stress, via increased attention-seeking. Furthermore, a significant interaction between narcissism and perceived social rejection at T1 predicted adolescents' outcomes at T2, via attention-seeking; Participants with a combination of higher narcissism and higher rejection at T1 reported higher levels of attention-seeking at T2. These longitudinal results suggest that narcissistic adolescents' attention-seeking on social media, particularly as a way to recover from social rejection, might backfire and ultimately contribute to an ongoing pattern of self-defeating behavior.

Background: Music may influence young people's behavior through its lyrics. Substance use references occur more frequently in rap/hip-hop than in other music genres. Objectives: The aim was to examine whether the exposure to rap/hip-hop lyrics referring to substance use affected cigarette smoking. Methods: An experiment with a 3-group between subject design was conducted among 74 daily-smoking young adults ranging in age from 17 to 25years old. Three conditions were tested in a mobile lab (camper vehicle) from May to December 2011, i.e., regular chart pop music (N = 28), rap/hip-hop with non-frequent references to substance use (N = 24), and rap/hip-hop with frequent references to substance use (N = 22). Results: One-way ANOVA showed that participants listening to substance use infused rap/hip-hop songs felt significantly less pleasant, liked the songs less, and comprehended the songs less compared to participants listening to pop songs. Poisson loglinear analyses revealed that compared to the pop music condition, none of the two rap/hip-hop music conditions had a significant effect on acute smoking. Thus, contrary to expectations, the two different rap/hip-hop conditions did not have a significantly different effect on acute smoking. Conclusions: Listening to rap/hip-hop, even rap hip/hop with frequent referrals to substance use (primarily alcohol and drug use, and general smoking referrals), does not seem to encourage cigarette smoking among Dutch daily-smoking young adults, at least short term.