Transition To Early Adolescence Research Articles

Facet-level personality development in the transition to adolescence: Maturity, disruption, and gender differences.

The transition to adolescence is marked by enormous change in social, biological, and personality development. Although accumulating evidence has offered insight into the nature of higher-order personality trait development during this period, much less is known about the development of lower-order personality traits, or "facets." The current study used a cohort-sequential longitudinal design to examine domain- and facet-level trajectories for mother-reported personality traits during the early adolescent transition. Personality trait domains and facets were assessed with the Inventory of Child Individual Differences-Short Form (Deal, Halverson, Martin, Victor, & Baker, 2007). Participants were 440 children followed at 4 annual timepoints from middle childhood (Mage = 9.97, SD = 0.81) to early adolescence (Mage = 13.11, SD = 0.84). Results of latent growth curve models showed substantial facet-level personality stability in this period, as well as small to moderate linear change in 13 of 15 facets. Gender differences in change were evident for 9 facets. Overall patterns suggested consistent increases in agreeableness facets with null to small gender differences. Neuroticism and openness to experience facet change was heterogeneous within each domain, but patterns were similar for boys and girls. Extraversion primarily decreased, though the magnitude and direction of change differed between facets and genders. Conscientiousness increased across all facets, but only among girls. These findings overall demonstrate a high degree of developmental consistency in facets within each domain as well as some notable differences. Further, this study contributes to a small and somewhat mixed evidence base for current theories of adolescent personality development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal Research in Pediatric Psychology: An Introduction to the Special Issue

This issue of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology (JPP) includes articles submitted for a special issue on “Longitudinal Research in Pediatric Psychology.” In the Call for Papers, we sought empirically oriented manuscripts that employed longitudinal designs and theoretical, methodological, or statistical papers relevant to longitudinal research. Examples of potential topics were provided in the Call and included: (a) familial, peer, and/or other contextual predictors of subsequent change in health-compromising behaviors in typically developing children or change in health-related behaviors and processes in children with chronic illness, (b) the impact of chronic illness on normative development or the consequences of varying developmental trajectories for subsequent health-related behaviors and processes, (c) studies that isolate different health trajectories as well as predictors of such differential outcomes, (d) tests of prospective mediational or causal predictor models based on longitudinal data, and (e) prevention, health promotion, and intervention studies with multiple data collection points that identify intervening mechanisms of change in health outcome. In response to the Call for Papers, 15 manuscripts were submitted. This issue includes eight of these articles; the first focuses on statistical strategies that can be used with longitudinal data and the other seven papers are empirical studies. Longitudinal studies permit examination of changes in health-related behaviors and processes over time. Such designs can be retrospective or prospective, with the latter having clear advantages over the former (Loeber & Farrington, 1994). As will be argued in more detail below, prospective longitudinal investigations of children with chronic physical conditions may be particularly informative when change is examined during critical developmental periods or transition points (e.g., early childhood, the transition to school, the early adolescent transition, the transition to adulthood). Indeed, a chronic condition is “chronic”; the impact of the condition is likely to unfold over time. At the most complex level of analysis, the task for the researcher is to understand a chronic condition that is changing over time in an individual that is also changing, developing, and maturing over time. Despite the advantages of longitudinal designs in addressing such issues, most studies in the fields of clinical child psychology and pediatric psychology are not longitudinal. In an earlier special issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (JCCP) on “The Role of Longitudinal Data with Child Psychopathology and Treatment,” Wierson and Forehand (1994) conducted a review of articles published on children and adolescents between 1983 and 1992 and found that only 4% were longitudinal (with 13% of those in JCCP being longitudinal). Of course, not all research questions require longitudinal designs, but Wierson and Forehand’s (1994) review suggests that such designs are more the exception than the rule. Within the field of pediatric psychology (and in JPP, in particular), most scholars suggest in their “future directions” sections that longitudinal data would be beneficial. Indeed, Wallander and Varni (1998) argued that developmentally oriented longitudinal studies in the field of pediatric psychology would be informative: “General developmental processes should become more salient features of the conceptualizations of adjustment in this special group. Longitudinal designs need to become the norm” (p. 42). In this introductory article, we first discuss advantages of longitudinal research in the study of children and adolescents with chronic conditions. Next, we provide an overview of several factors one may wish to consider when designing longitudinal studies with pediatric populations. Finally, we provide a brief overview of the articles included in this special issue.

Patterns of Social Support in the Middle Childhood to Early Adolescent Transition: Implications for Adjustment

AbstractChildren's social networks often include close family members, extended family members, and friends, but little is known about interindividual differences in the patterning of support from these sources. In this study, we used person‐oriented analyses to differentiate patterns of support for children undergoing the transition to adolescence. Social network and adjustment data were collected for an ethnically diverse sample of 691 fourth‐ and sixth‐grade children, with a two‐year follow‐up. Cluster analyses identified one pattern of support from both close family members and friends, a second pattern of support from both close and extended family members, and a third pattern of support primarily from close family members alone. Participants receiving support from close family in combination with either extended family or friends were better adjusted than were those without multiple support resources. The results suggest that a meaningful typology of children's social networks can be developed.

Longitudinal analysis of flexibility and reorganization in early adolescence: a dynamic systems study of family interactions.

A dynamic systems (DS) approach was used to study changes in the structure of family interactions during the early adolescent transition period. Longitudinal observational data were collected in 5 waves prior to, during, and after the transition. Boys (n = 149 families) were videotaped problem solving with their parents at 9-10 years old and every 2 years thereafter until they were 18 years old State space grids (a new DS method) were constructed for all families across all waves. Two variables indexing the variability of the family interactions were derived from the grids. As hypothesized, the DS variables revealed a significant quadratic effect related to a peak in variability at 13-14 years of age.

Single and Multiple Indicators of Physical Attractiveness and Psychosocial Behaviors among Young Adolescents

Using a sample of 157 young adolescents (mean age = 11.79 years, SD = .45) from the Replication and Extension of the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study (REPEATS), the present research examined relations among several indicators of physical attractiveness (PA): facial and full-body P4 ratings, height, weight, and triceps skinfold thickness. Appraisals were made of whether multiple PA indicators accounted for more variation in measures of psychosocial functioning than did single P4 indexes. Gender variation in relations among PA indexes and psychosocial functioning was assessed also. Facial attractiveness was the most frequent statistically significant predictor of psychosocial functioning, even when compared with the simultaneous regression equations involving all the PA indexes. Results of separate analyses of males and of females were consistent with this finding and no systematic significant gender differences were found. It was concluded that past research that used facial PA adequately represented the links between PA and psychosocial functioning in early adolescence.

Adolescent Perceived Attachment to Parents in Relation to Competence, Depression, and Anxiety

Attachment theory leads to the suggestion that the supportive function of attachment relations may be most salient during early adolescent transitions, such as the child's transition into junior high. To test these effects, questionnaire measures of attachment to parents, emotional autonomy, perceived self-competence, depression, and anxiety were completed by forty-seven 12-year-olds at three times: the last semester of sixth grade, the first 2 months of seventh grade (in a junior high school), and the last semester of seventh grade. Correlational results revealed that attachment to parents was significantly and positively correlated with measures of self-perceived competence, especially during the child's transition into junior high (Time 2). Also, attachment to parents was found to be significantly but negatively related to adolescent feelings of depression and anxiety. These results support the expected emergence, during transitional periods, of the buffering effect of parent-adolescent attachment for adolescent feelings of competence and emotional well-being.

Physical Attractiveness and Psychosocial Functioning among Early Adolescents

Male and female adolescents who differed in physical attractiveness (PA) were also expected to differ in peer and parent relations, classroom behaviors, and self-perceptions, with adolescents higher in PA expected to score more favorably than those lower in PA. To test these expectations, sixth graders from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study were longitudinally assessed at the beginning, middle, and end of sixth grade. Across time, adolescents who saw themselves as competent were rated similarly by their teachers and had better peer and parent relations than was the case with the adolescents who saw themselves as less competent. As expected, PA was associated with these differences. Within and across time, adolescents higher in PA tended to have more favorable ratings than did adolescents lower in PA. The stimulus information value of PA for cuing a stereotype regarding attractiveness is discussed.

Relations among early adolescent temperament, parent and peer demands, and adjustment: a test of the goodness of fit model

This study assessed whether the goodness of fit—between early adolescents temperaments and their parents and peers demands, or “ethnotheories”, regarding temperament—was more related to adjustment than were acontextual measures of temperament alone. Data from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study, a short-term longitudinal investigation of 153 adolescents from the beginning of sixth grade to the end of seventh grade, were used. Temperament was indexed by the nine attributes measured by the Revised Dimension of Temperament Survey, and the measures of demands regarding temperament were derived from different versions of this instrument. Adjustment was indexed by teacher ratings of academic and social competence and by parent ratings of problem behaviors. At the end of Grade 6 and the beginning of Grade 7, the number of significant relations between the adjustment measures and the fit scores tended to be greater than the number of significant relations between adjustment and temperament, measured alone. Moreover, groups formed on the basis of high vs. low temperament fit showed differential adjustment scores: adolescents in the low fit group in regard to both peer- and parent-demands received lower teacher ratings of scholastic competence, and higher parent ratings for conduct and school problems, than did the adolescents in the high fit group.

Early Adolescent Physical Attractiveness and Academic Competence

Using data from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study (PEATS), a short-term longitudinal study of northwestern Pennsylvania adolescents undergoing the transition from elementary to junior high school, physical attractiveness (PA) and objective and subjective measures of academic competence were interrelated in order to test two alternative models: The direct effects model stresses intraorganism, noncontextually mediated links, while the developmental contextual model emphasizes social interactional processes between students and teachers. In support of the developmental contextual notion, the results of LISREL analyses across three times of testing during the sixth grade indicated that significant paths existed between PA and initial teachers' ratings of students' academic competence; in turn, these ratings were related to end-of-year grade point averages and to scores on a standardized achievement test. These findings are discussed in regard to alternative ways to model the role of social interactions in PA -academic competence relations and to the possible role of PA in early adolescent stress and coping.

Early Adolescent Temperament and Academic Competence: Tests of "Direct Effects" and Developmental Contextual Models

Using data from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study (PEATS), temperament and measures of academic competence were interrelated to test two alternative models: The "direct effects" model stresses intraorganism, non-contextually mediated links, while the "developmental contextual" model emphasizes social interactional processes between students and teachers. In support of the developmental contextual notion, results of LISREL analyses at the end of Grade 6 (elementary school), and the end of Grade 7 (junior high school) indicated that significant paths existed between second-order temperament factors and teachers' ratings of students' academic competence; these ratings were related to students' self-rated competence, to Grade 6 and 7 grade point averages, and to Grade 6 achievement scores. Findings are discussed in regard to the alternative models of the role of organismic individuality in adolescent development and the possible role of temperament in adolescent stress and coping.

Objective and subjective attractiveness and early adolescent adjustment

Using data from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study (PEATS), this study assessed how objective physical attractiveness (PA), indexed by appraisals from others, and subjective PA, indexed by self-appraisals, relate to each other and, in turn, to early adolescent adjustment (indexed by self-esteem and anxiety). Findings indicated a low relationship between objective and subjective PA. Only subjective PA was associated with adjustment.

Parental and Peer Ethnotheory Demands, Temperament, and Early Adolescent Adjustment

Parents or peers may differ in their preferences and aversions for particular temperamental characteristics and, as such, in their attitudes about whether a given temperament attribute creates difficulty in social interactions. This set of attitudes is termed an "ethnotheory" of temperamental difficulty. This study sought to determine: (a) whether adolescents' temperaments better match, or fit, the ethnotheories of parents or peers; and (b) whether adolescents whose temperaments reflect a good fit with parental and/or peer ethnotheories are better adjusted than those adolescents whose behavior reflects a poor fit. Using data from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study, these issues were addressed by assessing parents' and peers' ethnotheories for early adolescent temperament over the course of the sixth grade. Results indicated that although parents and peers had different ethnotheories, adolescents' temperaments were at levels which would not cause actual difficulty for either parents or peers. Finally, temperament-ethnotheory fit, especially in regard to parents, was related more to adolescent adjustment in the home, in the school, and with peers than was temperament alone.

Peer Social Support and Adjustment of Early Adolescent Peer Groups

This study examined whether early adolescents in four sociometric groups (peer-rejected, -neglected, -popular, and -controversial) vary in their perceptions of peer social support and in their behavioral, psychosocial, and scholastic adjustment. Subjects were 101 sixth-graders who participated in the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study. Sociometric groups were formed using results from a peer nomination questionnaire. Self-ratings were used to index subjects' perceptions of social support from peers, and teacher-, parent-, and self-ratings of subjects' scholastic, behavioral, and psychosocial functioning served as indices of adjustment. The results indicated that peer-rejected youngsters were most deficient in perceived peer social support and exhibited the highest rate of adjustment problems. The effect of peer status on the social support received from peers and the importance of peer support in early adolescence are discussed.

Contextual Demands for Early Adolescent Behavioral Style

The focus of this investigation was to describe the contextual demands placed on early adolescents and to determine if these demands differ across contexts. In addition, we assessed whether adolescents could accurately perceive the demands placed on them and if their "fit" with demands differed across contexts. By focusing on demands regarding behavioral style, or temperament, and studying 101 early adolescents (56 males, 45 females), from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study, we assessed adolescents' self-rated temperament and the demands placed on the adolescents by their peer group, their teachers, and their parents. Results of multivariate analyses of variance indicated that parents and peers hold different demands for behavioral style. Adolescents perceived several of their peers' demands as being significantly different than the peers' actual demands. Finally, except for one of nine attributes of temperament, the adolescents' self-rated temperament attributes exceeded the contextual expectations for behavioral style in all settings and exceeded the demands of parents and teachers more than they exceeded the demands of their peers. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are noted.