Open research questions in Psychosocial Factors Impacting Youth

What the literature leaves open

• Future research should examine changes in teachers’ attributions over time and whether this helps explain children’s class- room experiences over similar periods. Given that ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder and highly heritable, future research should investigate whether teachers’ attribu- tions that ADHD behaviors are internal but not controllable (e. Finally, future research should explore how teacher stress and teacher attributions for ADHD behaviors may interact to relate to student out- comes, as addressing both teacher factors could benefit tar- get students.

  Associations Between Teacher Attributions and Stress with the Social Experiences of Students at Risk for ADHD and Peer Problems · 2026 · DOI

• Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended that the developed scale be applied in different sociocultural regions and various types of schools, and that measurement invariance analyses be conducted. This would allow testing the consistency of the factor structure across diverse samples. In addition, the high internal consistency coefficients (above .90) observed in some sub-dimensions raise the possibility of item redundancy. Therefore, future studies may focus on item reduction analyses and the development of a short-form version of the scale. To further examine the structural relationships among the dimensions of the scale, studies based on structural equation modeling are also recommended. Moreover, investigating the relationships between scale scores and variables such as academic achievement, school engagement, student well- being, and parental involvement would strengthen evidence for criterion-related validity. Finally, developing teacher and student forms of the scale and conducting comparative studies based on multiple data sources would contribute to a more holistic evaluation of school climate and stakeholder perceptions. In addition, test–retest reliability studies are recommended to assess the temporal stability of the scale. This would provide evidence not only for internal consistency but also for stability over time. Conducting analyses based on Item Response Theory (IRT) would also make a significant contribution by allowing a more detailed examination of item functioning; in particular, analyzing item discrimination and difficulty parameters would reveal how measurement precision varies across different score levels. Furthermore, performing Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses across groups with different socioeconomic backgrounds would provide important evidence regarding the fairness of the scale. To examine predictive validity, the direct and indirect effects of dimensions such as guidance services and teacher perceptions on students’ academic performance or school engagement can be tested through structural equation modeling. Lastly, to enable a deeper interpretation of quantitative findings, collecting qualitative data through mixed-methods designs and conducting parent interviews would strengthen the contextual meaning of the factors and make the cultural foundations of the measured construct more visible.

  Parent–School Perception Scale: An Examination of Its Psychometric Properties · 2026 · DOI

• This study is the first to examine the association between the age of starting and intensity of formal childcare and psycho- logical wellbeing. This was done in a large British nationally representative cohort study, with the opportunity to control for a multitude of socio-economic and mental health vari- ables while maintaining good power to detect associations. 1 3Child Psychiatry & Human Development The psychological wellbeing questionnaires used in the MCS had no validated cut-off points and answers were not normally distributed. As a result, scales were analysed as ordinal, and a cut-off value for good and poor life satisfaction and self-esteem was determined in comparison to the other participants (25% cut-off value). As outlined in the method, this approach follows other research using the MCS wellbe- ing data [2, 60], although a 25% instead of a 10% or 15% cut-off needed to be employed to ensure model stability. Although the items showed good internal consistency and loaded on a single construct, these analyses do not replace a rigorous validation procedure. Future studies could use validated measurement tools to investigate whether similar results are seen with validated tools, for example the War- wick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale [57], Cantril Lad- der [32], or the Good Childhood Index [49]. Results were only reported for the full sample, and not stratified by SEP or migration status. We did not examine whether associations between childcare and psychologi- cal wellbeing differed by socio-economic position. Future research should assess potential heterogeneity by SEP, as null average associations may conceal offsetting patterns across socio-economic groups. All control variables were reported at 9 months of age. Although this minimised the risk of control variables them- selves being influenced by early childcare use, it did not allow to account for changes in children’s SEP, for example mater- nal employment or divorce. Parents reported all formal child- care together so that differences between the formal childcare set-ups (e.g., childminders and preschools) cannot be deter- mined. Some childcare data could not be included in the parameters as parents provided incomplete data. This likely led to an underestimation of childcare use in the sample.

  Early Formal Childcare and Adolescent Psychological Wellbeing in the Millennium Cohort Study: The Role of Socio-economic Position · 2026 · DOI

• We have managed to examine the characteristics of a group that is often difficult to identify and recruit in research, which is a strength of the current study. Studies on child- hood maltreatment frequently face significant obstacles, including the risk of emotional strain for participants, legal and ethical restrictions, the requirement for parental consent involving minors, and the societal taboos surrounding the topic (Chae et al., 2011; Kinard, 2001). Our sample includes mothers of children with a history of maltreatment, substan- tiated by either a primary physician, Child Welfare Services, or other officials. The mothers have also chosen to apply for participation in the one-week course at the SSC. This introduces a limitation to the generalizability of our findings in that the results may not extend to mothers who have not sought help or engaged with support services or to families where maltreatment has not been formally identified. There are some additional limitations that must be acknowledged in this study. Several items in the positive parenting sub- scale of the APQ show little variability. Similar patterns of limited variability have been reported in other Norwegian studies with comparable sample sizes (Sollie et al., 2016; Brekke et al., 2023), suggesting that this response pattern is not unique to the present study. However, the degree of variability observed here seems to be somewhat lower, which may at least partly be related to the use of a shortened version of the instrument and the removal of one item due to low reliability. Low variability has also been reported in international studies, such as Gross et al. (2017), indicating that this pattern is not specific to the Norwegian version of the scale. Furthermore, although sample size and statistical power are unlikely to fully explain the observed pattern, they may still represent contributing factors. Taken together, it is difficult to determine the extent to which the low vari- ability reflects sample characteristics, measurement proper- ties, or contextual factors, and these issues should be taken into account when interpreting the findings. Comparing our findings to those of other studies is challenging because research on child maltreatment and parenting practices is scarce. There are also variations in definitions, methods, and sample characteristics in the available studies, which further hampers an overview of the research field (van IJzendoorn et al., 2020; Jackson, 2023). These inconsistencies not only complicate the interpretation of individual findings but also comparisons across studies. As highlighted in our discussion, factors such as the inclu- sion of both genders versus only mothers and the use of self- reported data from parents versus children or adolescents add further complexity to these comparisons. Furthermore, the directionality of the associations between child maltreat- ment and parenting is uncertain. Risk factors within fami- lies may simultaneously increase the likelihood of negative parenting practices and child maltreatment. Future longi- tudinal studies are needed to entangle the temporal order of these factors and to better understand how they interact and influence each other over time. Moreover, parenting practices are likely influenced by additional factors beyond those explored in this study, such as socioeconomic back- ground, parental mental health, culture, and social support (Roubinov & Boyce, 2017; Fung et al., 2018; Sanders & Turner, 2018).

  Parenting After Child Maltreatment: A Study of Maternal Parenting Strategies and the Parent-child Relationship · 2026 · DOI

• The results obtained from the study can be generalized to adolescents studying in related schools. Acknowledgements We thank the adolescent and their parents who agreed to take part in the study. Author Contributions G.A. and E.S.K. led the conception and design of the study, as well as the acquisition and analysis of data, and drafted the manuscript. G.A. and E.S.K. contributed to the design of the study and provided critical revisions to the manuscript. E.S.K. and H.O. assisted with data acquisition and contributed to the analysis. G.A. and E.S.K. and H.O. provided signifcant input in the interpreta- tion of data and helped to revise the manuscript for important intel- lectual content. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript. Funding Open access funding provided by the Scientific and Techno- logical Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK). Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma1 3 Declarations Ethical Consideration Prior to the study, ethical committee approval (Date: 07.11.2024 Number: E.65256) and institutional approval were obtained from the hospital where the research was conducted. Written consent was obtained from the parents using the informed voluntary consent form. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit h t t p : / / c r e a t i v e c o m m o n s . o r g / l i c e n s e s / b y / 4 . 0 /.

  Examination of Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction, Quality of Life, and Loneliness Levels in Adolescents Who Experienced an Earthquake · 2026 · DOI

• As an initial adaptation study, future research should examine measurement invariance across subgroups, assess temporal stability through longitudinal designs, and evaluate clinical utility, including sensitivity, specificity, and cut-off values.

  Adaptation and Validation of the Indonesian Version of the Iowa-Netherlands Comparison Orientation Measure (INCOM) Among Primiparous Mothers Who Use Social Media · 2026 · DOI

• The use of longitudinal research design may help build a causative relationship and conduct additional studies. 2. The use of larger sample size is encouraged along with diversified subjects' age, educational background, and regional experience. 3. The inclusion of more psychological variables in the research process is encouraged, including (but not limited to) mental health state, personality traits, self-esteem and family environment to understand emotional development. 4. Researchers are encouraged to pay special attention to program designing in order to improve social-emotional competence of respondents. 5. Schools, colleges, and universities are recommended to design and implement the necessary training programs to enable demonstrating emotional skills, such as self-awareness, emotional control, and relationship management with other people. 6. Parents should have relevant information regarding the creation of supportive environment for children. 7. Universities should provide relevant counseling services for their students' emotional wellbeing. REFERENCES Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. N. (2015). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. New York, NY: Psychology Press. Anwar, A., Ayyubi, M. S., Riaz, F., & Shabeer, M. G. (2024). Regional disparities in food security: An empirical analysis of Pakistan’s provinces and regions. The Journal of Research Review, 1(4), 502- 511. Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469–480. Bornstein, R. F. (2012). From dysfunction to adaptation: An interactionist model of dependency. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8(1), 291–316. Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Loss. New York, NY: Basic Books. Crowell, S. E., Beauchaine, T. P., & Linehan, M. M. (2009). A biosocial developmental model of borderline personality disorder: Elaborating and extending Linehan’s theory. Psychological Bulletin, 135(3), 495–510. Daniel, I., Yusuf, A. H., Masih, S., & Daniel, K. (2025). Unraveling the path from digital fatigue to workplace thriving: A serial mediation model based on the job demands–resources framework. Social Science Review Archives, 3(4), 4575-4593. Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Wyatt, T. (2007). The socialization of emotional competence. In J. E. Grusec & P. D. Hastings (Eds.), Handbook of socialization: Theory and research (pp. 614–637). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. Copyright © 2025.

  A Perceived Emotional Neglect, Social Emotional Competence, and Interpersonal Dependency in Young Adults · 2026 · DOI

• This study has several limitations. First, the KYRBS relies on self-reported information, which may introduce recall bias and social desirability bias, particularly for sensitive behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and mental health symptoms. Second, the cross-sectional design limits causal interpretation, which means it cannot determine whether allergic diseases contribute to poor mental health, whether psychological distress affects symptom perception, or whether shared factors account for the observed associations. Third, although a wide range of covariates was included, unmeasured confounding may remain, including disease severity, environmental exposures, parental mental health, and access to healthcare. Fourth, allergic diseases were identified through self-reported physician diagnosis without clinical confirmation, which may result in misclassification. Fifth, the categorization of key behaviors such as physical activity, screen time, and sleep satisfaction may not fully reflect intensity, duration, or qualitative differences. In addition, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis were analyzed as a single allergic disease group, which may have obscured disease-specific psychosocial associations given the heterogeneity in clinical manifestations and symptom burden across these conditions. As a result, the observed associations should be interpreted as reflecting overall patterns among adolescents with allergic diseases rather than condition-specific effects. Lastly, while sex-stratified analyses highlighted consistent differences in the overall mental health burden between boys and girls, most sex-bycovariate interaction terms were not statistically significant. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted as reflecting differences in levels of vulnerability rather than evidence of fundamentally distinct etiological mechanisms by sex. Despite these limitations, the study has important strengths. It uses a large national dataset that supports generalizability to Korean adolescents with allergic diseases. The use of complex survey weights ensures accurate population level estimates. The sex stratified analyses and comprehensive adjustment for sociodemographic, behavioral, 173 YeoJin Im and Su Hee Kim. Sex Differences in Allergic Adolescentshttps://www.j-sgbm.org Sex Gender Biomed Vol. 1, No. 2, May 2026 and health related variables provide meaningful insight into sex specific mental health patterns in this group. The inclusion of multiple mental health outcomes, including stress, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and suicide ideation, allows a more complete understanding of psychological vulnerability among adolescents with allergic diseases.

  Sex Differences in Mental Health among Korean Adolescents with Allergic Diseases · 2026 · DOI

• Parental support of TNB is a crucial buffer against those experiences, yet little is known about how parents arrive at a state of being supportive and affirming to their TNB child.

  Paths of Acceptance for Parents of Trans and Non-Binary Youth: An Interview Study with Highly Affirming Parents · 2024 · DOI

• Although the theoretical connection between family factors and PIU is recognized, the specific associations of negative and positive parenting styles of both fathers and mothers with PIU in adolescent boys and girls remain unclear.

  Perceived parenting styles and adolescents' problematic internet use: Examining the parent–child same‐sex matching effect · 2024 · DOI

• Grit has been suggested to moderate the effect of risk factors affecting Chinese left‐behind children, but few studies have considered that being left behind might diminish the family and social conditions needed for nurturing grit, and therefore grit might mediate the effect of being left behind and perceived discrimination upon self‐esteem.

  Perceived discrimination and self‐esteem of left‐behind children: The mediating effect of grit · 2024 · DOI

• Stepfathers may influence their children’s development differently from either biological fathers or stepmothers due to differences in biological relatedness, social expectations, and relevant family processes; however, to date, little is known about the impact of stepfathers despite the increasing diversification of families.

  Stepfathers and Adolescent Well-Being: A Systematic Literature Review · 2024 · DOI

• The content-specificity of PSE is not well understood: Previous studies are based on either measure of general parental self-efficacy or task-specific parental self-efficacy but not measures of both constructs.

  Parental self-efficacy in relation to family characteristics · 2023 · DOI

• Utilizing an interpretative phenomenological approach and interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), the current study aimed to address this gap in the literature by exploring how parents perceive their experience of having a trans child has impacted their psychological wellbeing.

  Psychological Wellbeing Amongst Parents of Trans Children: An in-Depth Qualitative Investigation · 2022 · DOI

• Despite evidence indicating that self-esteem (SE) may be considered a precondition to subjective well-being (SWB), there are inconclusive findings regarding its developmental links with SWB.

  Development of subjective well‐being and its relationship with self‐esteem in early adolescence · 2022 · DOI

• In this study, using data from the first wave of the China Education Panel Study collected in 2013, we focused on self-efficacy, an important but under-studied facet of noncognitive development, and assessed how it was influenced by family migration status.

  Parental migration and self‐efficacy among rural‐origin adolescents in China: Patterns and mechanisms · 2022 · DOI

• Despite a growing body of literature showing evidence of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in adult populations from various cultures, very few studies have examined PTG among children, particularly from conflict zones in South Asia.

  Trauma and children: Exploring posttraumatic growth among school children impacted by armed conflict in Kashmir. · 2021 · DOI

• Future studies should examine if species of pet, number of pets, the relationship between pet and owner, or the nature of pet interactions influences perceptions of growth, as well as assessing perceptions of support from pets and the possibility of distinct pathways to each domain of PTG.

  Associations Between Pet Ownership, Posttraumatic Growth, and Stress Symptoms in Adolescents · 2020 · DOI

• It is also well-established that youth with antisocial behaviour have a range of emotion-related deficits, yet the impact of these students' emotion-related abilities on the TSR is not understood.

  Antisocial behaviour and teacher–student relationship quality: The role of emotion‐related abilities and callous–unemotional traits · 2020 · DOI

• Although supportive relationships with parents, peers, and teachers are protective factors associated with successful educational transitions, little is known about the reciprocal link between the quality of these interpersonal relationships and school well-being, with even less known about how these two constructs affect academic achievement.

  Associations between Adolescents’ Interpersonal Relationships, School Well-being, and Academic Achievement during Educational Transitions · 2019 · DOI

• To address the gap in literature, we examined how American and Korean cultural contexts differently affect the association between two types of parent-child relationship quality (mother-child dyad and father-child dyad) and two types of filial obligation (instrumental support and emotional support).

  Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Filial Obligation Among American and Korean College Students: The Moderating Role of children’s Gender · 2018 · DOI

• Results were mixed; a full structural equation modeling (SEM) model primarily supported previous literature, suggesting that, according to mothers, postnatal co-parenting was the strongest predictor of father involvement.

  Co-parenting, Relationship Quality, and Father Involvement in African American and Latino Adolescents · 2017 · DOI

• Initially, one major concern was no consensus on the definition of social competence had been reached among researchers (Arsenio & Lemerise, 2001; McConnell & Odom, 1999).

  Evaluating Positive Social Competence in Preschool Populations. · 2016

• CONCLUSIONS: Findings yielded similar relations across countries, evidencing that being prosocial in late childhood contributes to some degree to the enhancement of a nurturing and involved mother-child relationship in countries that vary widely on sociodemographic profiles and psychological characteristics.

  Positive parenting and children's prosocial behavior in eight countries · 2015 · DOI

• These mixed findings have prompted calls for prospective research to evaluate factors that may moderate the impact of parentification on child development, including both features of the parentification itself and family characteristics (East, 2010).

  Ethnic Differences in the Developmental Significance of Parentification · 2014 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Psychosocial Factors Impacting Youth

• A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. · Psychological Bulletin · 2006 · 1,800 citations
• A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in studies of socialization. · Psychological Review · 1968 · 1,376 citations
• Parenting Stress and Child Behavior Problems: A Transactional Relationship Across Time · American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities · 2012 · 763 citations
• Parent-Adolescent Communication and the Circumplex Model · Child Development · 1985 · 683 citations
• Mutually Responsive Orientation between Mothers and Their Young Children: Implications for Early Socialization · Child Development · 1997 · 406 citations
• Parenting and its Effects on Children: On Reading and Misreading Behavior Genetics · Annual Review of Psychology · 2000 · 376 citations
• Child–parent attachment and children's peer relations: A quantitative review. · Developmental Psychology · 2001 · 312 citations
• Longitudinal effects of theory of mind on later peer relations: The role of prosocial behavior. · Developmental Psychology · 2011 · 310 citations
• Family Structure, Father Involvement, and Adolescent Behavioral Outcomes · Journal of Marriage and the Family · 2006 · 294 citations
• Annual Research Review: Cross‐cultural similarities and differences in parenting · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · 2021 · 288 citations

Most recent work

• Social stigma, internalised shame and psychological struggles in adopted adolescents: A mediated model · Adoption & Fostering · 2026
• A meta-analytical review of parent–child communication and children feeling caught between parents · Communication Monographs · 2026
• Caregiving, maternal burnout, and child dysregulation: Validating the Italian Caregiving Experiences Questionnaire · Family Relations · 2026
• Sex Differences in Mental Health among Korean Adolescents with Allergic Diseases · Sex- and Gender-Specific Biomedicine · 2026
• The Social Value of Sadness: A Pathway to Sympathy and Prosocial Behavior in Middle-Childhood · The Journal of Genetic Psychology · 2026
• Impact of parenting styles on cognitive and non-cognitive skills of young children: Evidence from rural Thailand · Review of Economics of the Household · 2026
• Legitimacy of parental authority in emerging adulthood: Effects of support, demands, and psychological control · Family Relations · 2026
• Examination of Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction, Quality of Life, and Loneliness Levels in Adolescents Who Experienced an Earthquake · Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma · 2026
• No Evidence for Associations Among Minimal Self Facets or with Attachment in Early Childhood: A Registered Report · Journal of Cognition and Development · 2026
• The Mediating Role of Demographic Factors on the Psychological Wellbeing of Parents with Down Syndrome Children · Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities · 2026

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