As part of a larger program of research on the nature of adolescents' relationships with very important nonparental adults (hereafter referred to as "VIPs"), a community sample of 243 eleventh graders (mean age = 16.6 years) was surveyed, and a subgroup of 55 adolescents and their VIPs were interviewed about the nature and quality of their relationships. Results showed that (a) adolescent-VIP relationships were a normative component of adolescent development, not a result of problems in adolescents' lives; (b) adolescent-VIP relationships were generally of high quality (e.g., high support, low conflict, and high mutuality); (c) there were significant differences between kin and nonkin VIPs in terms of the duration of relationships and frequency of contact, but not in the quality of relationships; and (d) VIPs whom adolescents designated as extremely important were distinguished from other VIPs in terms of providing a higher level of social support and a higher frequency of contact. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Two hundred one adolescents of diverse ethnic backgrounds (mean age = 16.7 years) reported whether they considered any adult other than their parents to be a "very important" person (VIP) in their lives, and described various attributes of the VIP and their relationship with this individual. Perceived VIP characteristics - especially perceived involvement of the VIP in behavior that is uniformly illegal (e.g., theft) or illegal for adolescents (e.g., alcohol use) -were robust predictors of boys' self-reported misconduct and had modest links with their level of self-reported depressive symptomatology. In contrast, VIP attributes showed their strongest linkages to girls' depressive symptoms, with perceived VIP warmth and acceptance related to a lower incidence of depressed mood. Regression analyses indicated that these VIP attributes contributed uniquely to the explanation of misconduct and depressive symptoms even when analogous parental and friend attributes were included in the models. In view of the findings of this exploratory study, several future research directions are suggested, including research on the mechanisms through which VIP "effects" may be transmitted.

This study examined risk and protection for adolescent problem behavior and depressive symptomatology in an average-risk sample of 11th graders. Using a socioecological perspective, we aggregated risk factors for adolescent problem behavior and depressed mood by 3 social contexts: i.e., family and peer contexts, and a context comprising the most important nonparental adult ("VIP") in respondents' lives. Protective factors associated with these 3 contexts were also included in the analyses. We tested separate models (including outcome-specific risk and protective factors) for predicting problem behaviors and depressive symptoms; the models demonstrated divergent validity. Risk and protective factors accounted for 49% of the variance in problem behavior and 49% in depressive symptoms. Tests of interactions between risk-aggregates and protective factors yielded several significant cross-context buffering effects in the problem behavior model, but none in the depressive symptoms model. Parents' and VIP's perceived sanctions buffered adolescents against high risk for problem behavior emanating from the peer context. Additionally, perceived peers' sanctions buffered youths against risk emanating from each of the 3 contexts.