Adolescents’ Future Expectations During High School: Examining the Role of Close Relationships, Psychosocial Risk and Sex in Stability and Change

This study examined the stability/change trajectories of future expectations during high school, analyzing whether adolescents’ sex, attachment to parents and peers, multiple risk, and pandemic-related stress explained these trajectories. The sample included 467 Portuguese adolescents, assessed three times across 18 months. Results revealed that adolescents’ future expectations increased significantly over time. We observed significant inter-participant variance at initial levels and growth rates. Emotional bonds with parents was associated with higher initial levels of optimistic future expectations, whereas alienation to peers was associated with lower initial levels of optimism. Adolescents’ exposure to multiple psychosocial risks was associated with lower growth of optimism. In turn, alienation to peers was associated with a higher growth rate of optimism. Pandemic-related stress was negatively associated with optimism at T2 and T3, and these associations were different over time. Our findings emphasize the associations between individual, relational, broader social contexts, and development of adolescents’ future expectations.