Antonius H. N. Cillessen

Peer status is associated with social functioning throughout childhood and adolescence, but little is known about its’ long‐term implications. This study examined longitudinal associations of childhood and adolescent popularity with social behavior and status in emerging adulthood. In line with concurrent associations of popularity with social behavior, we hypothesized that childhood popularity would be associated with a positive, prosocial profile, and adolescent popularity would be associated with a powerful and forceful profile. As research has shown curvilinear associations of popularity with aggression in childhood and adolescence, we also examined whether longitudinal associations were curvilinear. Peer‐nominated popularity was measured at 9 and 16 years of age for 118 longitudinal participants. At age 24, they participated in a survey and an online video call session together with three unfamiliar peers, after which everyone in the session rated each other's social behavior. Results showed significant curvilinear associations of childhood and adolescent popularity with emerging adult social behavior and status. Childhood popularity was associated with positive, prosocial behavior and status indicators, showing that in addition to high childhood popularity, also low childhood popularity was associated with higher peer‐reported positive, prosocial behavior. High adolescent popularity was associated with both positive, prosocial, and powerful and forceful behavior and status indicators, with especially low adolescent popularity associated with lower levels of these behaviors and status in emerging adulthood. Childhood and adolescent popularity were thus uniquely and differentially associated with social behavior and status in emerging adulthood.

A paradox of testosterone effects is seen in adolescents versus adults in social emotional approach‐avoidance behavior. During adolescence, high testosterone levels are associated with increased anterior prefrontal (aPFC) involvement in emotion control, whereas during adulthood this neuro‐endocrine relation is reversed. Rodent work shows that, during puberty, testosterone transitions from a neuro‐developmental to a social‐sexual activating hormone. In this study, we explored whether this functional transition is also present in human adolescents and young adults. Using a prospective longitudinal design, we investigated the role of testosterone on neural control of social emotional behavior during the transitions from middle to late adolescence and into young adulthood. Seventy‐one individuals (tested at ages 14, 17, and 20 years) performed an fMRI‐adapted approach‐avoidance (AA) task involving automatic and controlled actions in response to social emotional stimuli. In line with predictions from animal models, the effect of testosterone on aPFC engagement decreased between middle and late adolescence, and shifted into an activational role by young adulthood—impeding neural control of emotions. This change in testosterone function was accompanied by increased testosterone‐modulated amygdala reactivity. These findings qualify the testosterone‐dependent maturation of the prefrontal‐amygdala circuit supporting emotion control during the transition from middle adolescence into young adulthood.