Our results confirm the 3-dimensional model for 12-month prevalence of mental disorders. Results underline the argument for focusing on core psychopathological processes rather than on their manifestation as distinguished disorders in future population studies on common mental disorders.

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In this article we wanted to shed light on the intergenerational transmission and the formation of cultural orientations in adolescence. The intergenerational transmission was analyzed in different age groups in a longitudinal design (orientations of parents and their adolescent children were measured twice, with a time lapse of 3 years). Results clearly revealed that late adolescence is the “formative phase” for the establishment of cultural orientations and suggested that psychological processes such as internalization are guiding this formation. This internalization was found for all investigated orientations. In addition, as adolescents grew older, their susceptibility to parental orientations diminished, but, in contrast, parents did not become more susceptible to their children's orientations. No age effects in sociocultural influences were found. It was concluded that the investigated sociocultural influences should be seen as providing a structural context within which the formation of orientations in adolescence takes place.

The extended psychosis phenotype, or the expression of nonclinical positive psychotic experiences, is already prevalent in adolescence and has a dose-response risk relationship with later psychotic disorder. In 2 large adolescent general population samples (n = 5422 and n = 2230), prevalence and structure of the extended psychosis phenotype was investigated. Positive psychotic experiences, broadly defined, were reported by the majority of adolescents. Exploratory analysis with Structural Equation Modelling (Exploratory Factor Analysis followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis [CFA]) in sample 1 suggested that psychotic experiences were best represented by 5 underlying dimensions; CFA in sample 2 provided a replication of this model. Dimensions were labeled Hallucinations, Delusions, Paranoia, Grandiosity, and Paranormal beliefs. Prevalences differed strongly, Hallucinations having the lowest and Paranoia having the highest rates. Girls reported more experiences on all dimensions, except Grandiosity, and from age 12 to 16 years rates increased. Hallucinations, Delusions, and Paranoia, but not Grandiosity and Paranormal beliefs, were associated with distress and general measures of psychopathology. Thus, only some of the dimensions of the extended psychosis phenotype in young people may represent a continuum with more severe psychopathology and predict later psychiatric disorder.

The objective of this study was to test our alternative interpretation of the separation-individuation hypothesis. This interpretation states that separation from the parents is not a precondition for individuation, but rather separation and individuation are two parallel processes of development during adolescence. We investigated our interpretation in two ways. Firstly, we looked at descriptive age differences in parental support and development of relational and societal identity. Secondly, we investigated the variation with age of the associations between parental support and emotional adjustment, and identity and emotional adjustment. Data of a representative Dutch sample of 2814 adolescents, aged 12-24 were used. In both cases, the findings supported our interpretation of the separation-individuation hypothesis and similar results were found in the descriptive analyses and the structural equation models. Parental support decreased with age, and so too did its association with emotional adjustment. In other words, as adolescents become older, they experience less parental support, while its importance for their emotional adjustment also declines. The opposite pattern was observed with respect to identity development: as adolescents become older, their relational and societal identity commitments develop, and the degree to which these commitments are developed also becomes more important for their emotional adjustment. r