Psychosocial Development in Adolescence

E. Saskia Kunnen is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Groningen. Naomi M.P. de Ruiter is an Assistant Professor of Social Sciences at the University College Groningen within the University of Groningen. Bertus F. Jeronimus is an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Groningen. Mandy A.E. van der Gaag is a Postdoctoral Researcher of Developmental Psychology at the University of Groningen.

Researchers studying adolescent development have often identified that one size does not fit all. For a long time we have lacked the proper tools to explore these individual processes in adolescent development. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence: Insights from the Dynamic Systems Approach is a roadmap for encouraging wonder and discovery of these individual processes. Now it is time to make a difference and take seriously the individual processes when studying adolescent development. Dynamic Systems Approach (DSA) is the fundamental approach behind the roadmap. Like any forefront scientific investigation, DSA gives us new tools and methods to examine individual processes. It seems possible that widespread use of these techniques could spur a return to the kind of new approach that is now needed in adolescent research globally. Psychosocial Development in Adolescence: Insights from the Dynamic Systems Approach is a much needed call to join an important new approach. It encourages us all to ask new questions. It inspires us to share the questions we ask every day. It motivates us to keep asking until we find routes to the answers. In a world where understanding diverse and individual pathways is essential, the DSA approach offers a richer way to solve these problems as a worldwide community of curious people who wonder about the fundamental new insights of the adolescent development.Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro, Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland

• ContentsChapter 1. Introduction to a dynamic systems approach to psychosocial development in adolsenceNaomi M.P. de Ruiter, Mandy A.E. van der Gaag, Bertus F. Jeronimus, and E. Saskia KunnenChapter 2. Systems in transition: the adolescent phase transition Tom Hollenstein and Tiffany TsuiChapter 3. Matching methods to theory: using dynamic systems models to understand nested systems of adolescent development Nancy Darling and Ian BurnsChapter 4. A nonlinear dynamic systems approach to psychological interventions Günter Schiepek, Helmut Schöller, Roswitha Carl, Wolfgang Aichhorn, and Anna Lichtwarck-AschoffChapter 5. Conflict dynamics and the transformation of the parent-adolescent relationship Jessica P. LougheedChapter 6. The nature of adolescents’ real-time self-esteem from a dynamic systems perspective: the socially embedded self-esteem model Naomi M.P. de RuiterChapter 7. Dynamic system perspectives on anxiety and depression Bertus F. JeronimusChapter 8. Trajectories preceding student dropout: an intra-individual process approach Mandy A.E. van der Gaag, E. Saskia Kunnen, and Paul L.C. van GeertChapter 9. Identity development from a dynamic dystems perspective E. Saskia KunnenChapter 10. Youth’s sexual relationships and development: improving our understanding through a dynamic systems approach Daphne van de BongardtChapter 11. Dynamic developmental complexity of moral motivation for adolescents and young adultsUlas KaplanChapter 12. Social development and group processes: a social network application to bullying and network interventionsGijs Huitsing, Jan K. Dijkstra, and René VeenstraChapter 13. Visualizing individual dynamics: the case of a talented adolescent Joske K. van der Sluis, Steffie van der Steen, Gert Stulp, and Ruud J.R. den HartighChapter 14. conclusion and Discussion: what we can gain from a dynamic systems approach to psychosocial development in adolescenceMandy A.E. van der Gaag, Naomi M.P. de Ruiter, Bertus F. Jeronimus, and E. Saskia Kunnen