This study examines the association between psychosocial adjustment and future expectations in early adolescence. This research tries to fill some gaps in the literature on how current adjustment might be an antecedent of early adolescents’ future expectations. Participants were 781 students (mean age = 12.37 years). Data were collected in 11 schools. The results revealed statistically significant correlations between self-esteem, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, emotional and behavioural problems, educational and social adjustment, and future expectations. The structural equation model confirmed a positive relation between psychosocial adjustment and these adolescents’ future expectations. The main contribution of this research is to further our comprehension of the development of adolescents’ future expectations and the way in which psychosocial adjustment has an impact on such development. Future expectations are an important protective factor for healthy development in adolescence, as thinking about the future motivates everyday behaviour and influences choices, decisions and future activities.

This study examines the factors influencing friendship quality during emergent adulthood. Data were collected on a sample of 393 college students (age range 18–22, M = 20.01). Nine multi-item measures were used as indicators in this study. Seven scales were drawn from the Battery of Adolescent Measures (Benson & Faas, 2014). The other two were the pragmatic (social) language and the aloof scales, which provided sensitised assessment of interpersonal deficits (Hurley, Losh, Parlier, Reznick, & Piven, 2007). The article hypothesises that family warmth predicts friendship quality during emergent adulthood. It also hypothesises that this relationship is mediated by emergent adults’ self-perceptions and by their social competence. Structural equation models supported the first hypothesis and also showed that self-perceptions and social competence partially mediate the main relationship. We also examined each mediator separately for evidence of partial mediation, but the full model remained a significantly better fit to the data compared to both single mediator models.

The purpose of this study was to study the associations between specific self-perceptions and global self-worth with different frequency levels of sport participation among Spanish boys and girls adolescents. Students (457 boys and 460 girls) completed the Self Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985) and items assessing sport engagement from The Health Behavior in School Children Questionnaire (Wold, 1995). Results showed that some specific dimensions of self-perception were related to different frequency of sport participation whereas overall judgments of self-worth did not. Specifically, for boys and girls, higher levels of sport participation were positively associated to Athletic Competence, and for boys were also associated with Physical Appearance and Social Acceptance. The potential implications of domain specific socialisation processes on the configuration of self-perceptions are highlighted.

Studies of the relationship between retirement and subsequent health, including longevity, have produced mixed findings. One reason may be that these studies have not taken attitudes toward retirement into account. In the current study we examined whether attitudes toward retirement can impact longevity. The cohort consisted of 394 participants who were followed for 23 years. As predicted, participants with positive attitudes toward retirement at the start of the study lived significantly longer than those with negative attitudes toward retirement. The positive attitudes-toward-retirement group had a median survival advantage of 4.9 years. This survival advantage remained after controlling for relevant covariates, including age, functional health, socio-economic status, and whether employed or retired. Our findings suggest that psychological planning for retirement is as important as the more traditional forms of planning.