Background: Internalizing mental health problems (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) are known to be related negatively to adolescents’ well-being. However, whether this negative association manifests equally in boys and girls, and the potential buffering role of high-quality relationships with mothers and fathers, remain unknown. Thus, the present study was conducted to 1) investigate associations among adolescents’ internalizing problems and mother– and father–adolescent relationship quality, on the one hand, and adolescents’ well-being, on the other hand, 2) explore the buffering role of high-quality mother– and father–adolescent relationships in the association between adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being, and 3) examine gender differences in these main and buffering effects.Methods: The analysis sample consisted of 1064 adolescents (53.7% girls; aged 11–17 years) from three secondary schools in the Netherlands. Participants filled out an online questionnaire incorporating the Mental Health Continuum–Short Form to measure well-being, the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-25 to measure internalizing problems, and the Network of Relationships Inventory to measure mother– and father–adolescent relationship quality. The cross-sectional data were analyzed using path models in R, controlling for age, ethnocultural background, and education level. Multigroup analyses were performed to identify gender differences.Results: Adolescents with fewer internalizing problems (β = − 0.40,p < 0.001) and adolescents with higher-quality relationships with their mothers and fathers reported higher concurrent levels of well-being (β = 0.10 to 0.18, allp < 0.01). The quality of mother-adolescent relationships had a significantly larger association with adolescents’ well-being than that of father-adolescent relationship quality. However, relationships with mothers and fathers did not significantly buffer the association between adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being. Multigroup analyses revealed no difference between boys and girls.Conclusions: The current study contributes to the understanding of internalizing problems as an important risk factor for adolescents’ well-being, regardless of the quality of relationships with mothers and fathers. The quality of adolescents’ relationships with their parents is associated positively with their well-being, even in the presence of internalizing problems. These findings underline the importance of mothers’ and fathers’ roles in adolescent boys’ and girls’ well-being.

We investigated youth’s self-reported socio-sexual competences (esteem, assertiveness, control, communication) within their most recent sexual partnerships, and explored disparities in these competences between romantic versus casual sexual partnerships, including age and gender differences therein. Data were used from 6,098 Dutch adolescents and young adults (12.1–26.1 years), who participated in a national study on sexual health. Results indicated that being in love and sexual activity frequency were significant confounders for the associations between sexual partnership typology and youth’s socio-sexual competence levels. After controlling for confounding relationship characteristics and sociodemographics, no differences were found between sexual partnership types in youth’s sexual esteem, assertiveness, and control. However, romantic sexual partnerships were characterized by more frequent sexual communication than casual sexual partnerships. This pattern was gender-consistent, but for young adults, this difference in sexual communication across sexual partnership types was larger than for adolescents. Our findings emphasize that considering the relationship context (e.g., romantic, casual) for the development, utilization, and evaluation of young people’s socio-sexual competences – particularly sexual communication – is a vital task for parents, educators, clinicians, and researchers. Individual (person-centered) versus relational (dyad-centered) differences in youth’s socio-sexual competences require further exploration, as does the link between socio-sexual competences and sexual health and satisfaction.

Adolescents spend increasing amounts of time using social media, but whether social media use has a beneficial or harmful role in internalizing problems and well-being during adolescence remains under debate. The present study explored associations of social media use and friendship quality with adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being both concurrently and longitudinally, including the exploration of interactive effects between social media use and friendship quality and the examination of gender differences. Online questionnaire data collected in Spring 2018 and Spring 2019 from 1,298 Dutch adolescents aged 11–17 years (mean age 13.7 ± 1.1 years, 53.2% girls) were used. Path analyses showed that, cross-sectionally, girls (not boys) who used social media more frequently had more internalizing problems and lower well-being. Boys and girls with higher-quality friendships reported fewer concurrent internalizing problems and higher concurrent and longitudinal well-being; the association with internalizing problems was significantly stronger for girls as for boys. We found no significant interaction between social media use and friendship quality. Thus, the present study indicates that social media use and friendship quality have unique roles in adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being. Furthermore, the findings support the importance of gender-specific approaches to decrease adolescents’ internalizing problems and enhance their well-being.

Parents lie to their children, for example, to influence children's behavior and emotions (parenting by lying). The aim of this systematic review was to describe the current scientific literature on parental lying, including its prevalence, correlates, conceptualizations, and operationalizations. Through an extensive literature search using PRISMA guidelines, 23 eligible peer‐reviewed empirical papers on parental lying have been found. Many parents are found to lie to their children. However, existing research is characterized by a heterogeneous and narrow conceptualization and operationalization of parental lying, and a focus on problems. Following this, the current empirical evidence points mostly toward associations with maladaptive development. Following a critical analysis of the studies, future research should implement broader conceptualizations and operationalizations of parental lying in non‐retrospective, experimental, or prospective longitudinal research designs on maladaptive and adaptive correlates, to determine the significance of parental lying for children.