Psychological profiles and adolescent adjustment: a person-centered approach

On the Way to Adulthood: Factors Contributing to the Life Satisfaction of Young Israeli Modern Orthodox Women

Drawing on ecological theory, the current study examined the associations of religious versus secular environments, relationship with the mother, and personal characteristics (religious coping strategies; self-mastery; sexual self-concept) with the life satisfaction of Israeli Young Modern Orthodox women and a comparison group of secular women. A sample of 362 women aged 18-29 completed quantitative questionnaires. High levels of sexual self-concept and self-mastery, positive religious coping strategies, and supportive relationship with the mother were associated with higher life satisfaction. Supportive relationships with mothers moderated the association between religious coping strategies and life satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Perceived parenting styles, cognitive flexibility, and prosocial behavior in Chinese Youth with an immigrant background: A three-group comparison

Previous research has revealed cross-cultural differences in parenting styles and in how these may relate to adolescents’ prosocial behavior. Nevertheless, little is known about the role of cognitive flexibility – a key component of executive function –and the immigration context in these associations. Using a person-centered approach, the current study aimed to (1) explore perceived parenting profiles among Chinese immigrant-origin youth in Italy in comparison to their nonimmigrant ethnic majority peers in the country of origin (China) and in the country of destination (Italy), and (2) examine the moderating role of cognitive flexibility in the expected parenting-prosocial behavior link in the three cultural groups. Participants (N = 444; M (Age) = 11.88 years; SD = 1.08; 50.7% girls; 27.4% Chinese immigrant-origin, 35.4% Chinese ethnic majority; 37.2% Italian ethnic majority) completed a parenting questionnaire and a computerized cognitive flexibility task, while teachers rated their prosocial behavior. Latent profile analysis revealed three perceived parenting styles: “harsh” (15.8%), “supportive” (40.5%), and “strict-affectionate” (43.7%). Chinese immigrant-origin, Italian ethnic majority, and Chinese ethnic majority youths were overrepresented in each of these profiles, respectively. In regression analyses, the association between parenting profiles and prosocial behavior varied as a function of adolescents’ cognitive flexibility and cultural group. Specifically, cognitive flexibility strengthened the supportive parenting-prosocial behavior link for Chinese immigrant-origin youth, and buffered against the detrimental effect of harsh parenting on prosocial behavior for their Italian ethnic majority peers. Findings emphasize the influence of cultural and immigration-related factors on adolescents’ perceived parenting styles, and provide further evidence for the beneficial role of cognitive flexibility in the positive adjustment of youth with and without an immigrant background.

Openness to Experience Moderates the Association of Warmth Profiles and Subjective Well-Being in Left-Behind and Non-Left-Behind Youth

Crouched in the socioecological framework, the present research compared the subjective well-being of left-behind youth with their non-left-behind peers. Furthermore, this research investigated the association of parental warmth and teacher warmth using a person-centered approach with adolescents’ subjective well-being on the whole sample, and examined its conditional processes by ascertaining the moderating role of openness to experience and left-behind status in this association. A total of 246 left-behind youth (53.6% girls; M_age = 15.77; SD = 1.50) and 492 socio-demographically matched, non-left-behind peers (55.1% girls; M_age = 15.91; SD = 1.43) was involved in this study. During school hours, these adolescents were uniformly instructed to complete a set of self-report questionnaires. The results from ANCOVA exhibited no significant differences in subjective well-being between these two groups of youth. Moreover, four warmth profiles were revealed: congruent low, congruent highest, congruent lowest, and incongruent moderate, and youth within the congruent highest profile were more likely than the other three profiles to report higher subjective well-being. Additionally, moderation analyses demonstrated that high openness was one protective factor for subjective well-being, when left-behind youth perceived the lowest levels of parental warmth and teacher warmth congruently. These findings indicate that left-behind youth may not be psychologically disadvantaged in terms of positive psychosocial outcomes, such as subjective well-being, and school activities or social initiatives emphasizing openness to experience would be essential for them to facilitate positive adaptive patterns after parental migration.

Relation Between Temperament and School Adjustment in Spanish Children: A Person-Centered Approach

The aim of this study was to examine from a person-centered approach the impact of temperament on academic achievement and sociometric status in a sample of 6-7-year-old Spanish children. To measure children's temperament in early childhood, parents were given TMCQ (Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire), while sociometric status and academic achievement were requested for children's teachers. Using latent profile analysis (LPA) four temperament profiles were found. Children belonged to the "Negative/Undercontrolled" profile showed a higher probability of academic failure and were more rejected, and children included in the profile "Sociable/High regulated" showed higher academic scores and a lower probability of being rejected by their peers. Several implications in the Spanish educational context are discussed.

Mental health profile and health-related behavior among Hong Kong Chinese university students

To better understand factors that are associated with individuals’ engagement in physical activity and other health-related behaviors, this study aimed to identify the psychological well-being profiles among Chinese university students, and explore whether engagement in physical activity and other health-related behaviors vary with different psychological well-being profiles. A battery of self-report questionnaires was completed by 2022 Chinese university students for assessing psychological well-being and health-related behaviors. Four psychological well-being profiles were identified. The vast students were mentally healthy. The students with better mental health displayed lower likelihood of engagement in unhealthy behaviors. Findings and implication of the study were discussed.

Multidimensional Self-Concept

The present research examined the relationship between self-concept and level of involvement in delinquent activities of 1327 (612 males, 715 females) years 8—12 high school students. Through cluster analysis, participants were identified as having either high or low involvement in delinquent activities from scores on a self-report measure of delinquency. Three multidimensional areas of self-concept (classroom, peer and confidence) were investigated, because of previous findings indicating discrepancies in these three dimensions for adolescent involvement in delinquent activities. Four, two-way multi-variate analyses of variance were conducted across the three self-concept dimensions for Gender, Year Level, and involvement in Delinquent Activities. Students highly involved in delinquent activities reported significantly lower classroom, peer and confidence self-concepts. For gender and year level effects, males reported significantly higher confidence self-concept while females scored significantly higher on peer self-concept. There were significant differences among year levels with a general decline in confidence self-concept with age but for classroom and peer self-concept, no clear age trends were evident. The results indicate the importance of considering multidimensional self-concept when examining adolescents' involvement in delinquent activities and incorporating self-concept enhancement strategies in intervention programs.

Sexuality (and Lack Thereof) in Adolescence and Early Adulthood: A Review of the Literature

Youth sexuality has been primarily studied with a focus on its potential public health issues, such as sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies, and its comorbidity with other risky behaviors. More recently, it has been studied as a normative step in romantic partnerships, either pre- or post-marital, as well as outside the context of romantic involvement. In this paper, we review the extensive literature on sexuality in adolescence and early adulthood both within and outside romantic relationships (i.e., casual sexual relationships and experiences; CSREs). Furthermore, the recent recognition of youth sexuality as a developmental task has led to a renewed interest from scholars in youth who abstain from sexual encounters, whether deliberately or not. A brief overview of the literature on cultural differences in sexuality, and sexual-minority youth sexual development is also provided. This paper concludes by suggesting future directions to bring the field of youth sexuality and romantic relationships forward.

The role of childhood maltreatment in the altered trait and global expression of personality in cocaine addiction

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Drug addictions are debilitating disorders that are highly associated with personality abnormalities. Early life stress (ELS) is a common risk factor for addiction and personality disturbances, but the relationships between ELS, addiction, and personality are poorly understood.

METHODS

Ninety-five research participants were assessed for and grouped by ELS history and cocaine dependence. NEO-FFI personality measures were compared between the groups to define ELS- and addiction-related differences in personality traits. ELS and cocaine dependence were then examined as predictors of personality trait scores. Finally, k-means clustering was used to uncover clusters of personality trait configurations within the sample. Odds of cluster membership across subject groups was then determined.

RESULTS

Trait expression differed significantly across subject groups. Cocaine-dependent subjects with a history of ELS (cocaine+/ELS+) displayed the greatest deviations in normative personality. Cocaine dependence significantly predicted four traits, while ELS predicted neuroticism and agreeableness; there was no interaction effect between ELS and cocaine dependence. The cluster analysis identified four distinct personality profiles: Open, Gregarious, Dysphoric, and Closed. Distribution of these profiles across subject groups differed significantly. Inclusion in cocaine+/ELS+, cocaine-/ELS+, and cocaine-/ELS- groups significantly increased the odds of expressing the Dysphoric, Open and Gregarious profiles, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Cocaine dependence and early life stress were significantly and differentially associated with altered expression of individual personality traits and their aggregation as personality profiles, suggesting that individuals who are at-risk for developing addictions due to ELS exposure may benefit from personality centered approaches as an early intervention and prevention.

Change in Age-Specific, Psychosocial Correlates of Risky Sexual Behaviors Among Youth: Longitudinal Findings From a Deep South, High-Risk Sample

The current study examined psychosocial predictors of change in intercourse frequency and number of sexual partners among youth within a socio-ecological framework and assessed whether these determinants vary by stage of adolescent development. Longitudinal data were derived from a large, community study of adolescent risky behavior among predominantly high-risk, African American youth. Significant predictors of intercourse frequency for early adolescents included age, gender, self-worth, and familial factors; for older youth, age, gender, self-worth, curfews, and sense of community exerted significant effects. Among early adolescents, age, gender, self-worth, familial factors, and sense of community predicted change in the number of sexual partners in the previous year, while age, gender, self-worth, parental knowledge, curfews, and sense of community were predictive of change in the number of sexual partners in the previous year among older youth. Study implications and future directions are discussed.

SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL PREDICTORS OF INTERCOURSE FREQUENCY AND NUMBER OF SEXUAL PARTNERS AMONG MALE AND FEMALE AFRICAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

The current study examined 14 waves of data derived from a large, community-based study of the sexual behavior of impoverished youth between 12 and 17 years of age residing in the Deep South. We used multilevel linear modeling to identify ecological predictors of intercourse frequency and number of sexual partners among gender-specific subsamples. Results indicated that predictors of adolescent sexual behavior differed by both type of sexual behavior and gender. For males, age, maternal warmth, parental knowledge, curfew, self-worth, and sense of community predicted intercourse frequency, while age, parental knowledge, curfew, self-worth, friend support, and sense of community were significantly associated with having multiple sexual partners. Among females, age, curfew, and self-worth exerted significant effects on intercourse frequency, while age, parental knowledge, curfew, and self-worth exerted significant effects on having multiple sexual partners. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Temperament clusters in a normal population: implications for health and disease

Background

The object of this study was to identify temperament patterns in the Finnish population, and to determine the relationship between these profiles and life habits, socioeconomic status, and health.

Methods/Principal Findings

A cluster analysis of the Temperament and Character Inventory subscales was performed on 3,761 individuals from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 and replicated on 2,097 individuals from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study. Clusters were formed using the k-means method and their relationship with 115 variables from the areas of life habits, socioeconomic status and health was examined.

Results

Four clusters were identified for both genders. Individuals from Cluster I are characterized by high persistence, low extravagance and disorderliness. They have healthy life habits, and lowest scores in most of the measures for psychiatric disorders. Cluster II individuals are characterized by low harm avoidance and high novelty seeking. They report the best physical capacity and highest level of income, but also high rate of divorce, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Individuals from Cluster III are not characterized by any extreme characteristic. Individuals from Cluster IV are characterized by high levels of harm avoidance, low levels of exploratory excitability and attachment, and score the lowest in most measures of health and well-being.

Conclusions

This study shows that the temperament subscales do not distribute randomly but have an endogenous structure, and that these patterns have strong associations to health, life events, and well-being.

Early environment and neurobehavioral development predict adult temperament clusters

Background

Investigation of the environmental influences on human behavioral phenotypes is important for our understanding of the causation of psychiatric disorders. However, there are complexities associated with the assessment of environmental influences on behavior.

Methods/Principal Findings

We conducted a series of analyses using a prospective, longitudinal study of a nationally representative birth cohort from Finland (the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort). Participants included a total of 3,761 male and female cohort members who were living in Finland at the age of 16 years and who had complete temperament scores. Our initial analyses (Wessman et al., in press) provide evidence in support of four stable and robust temperament clusters. Using these temperament clusters, as well as independent temperament dimensions for comparison, we conducted a data-driven analysis to assess the influence of a broad set of life course measures, assessed pre-natally, in infancy, and during adolescence, on adult temperament.

Results

Measures of early environment, neurobehavioral development, and adolescent behavior significantly predict adult temperament, classified by both cluster membership and temperament dimensions. Specifically, our results suggest that a relatively consistent set of life course measures are associated with adult temperament profiles, including maternal education, characteristics of the family’s location and residence, adolescent academic performance, and adolescent smoking.

Conclusions

Our finding that a consistent set of life course measures predict temperament clusters indicate that these clusters represent distinct developmental temperament trajectories and that information about a subset of life course measures has implications for adult health outcomes.

Do substance use risk personality dimensions predict the onset of substance use in early adolescence? A variable- and person-centered approach

Various studies found personality to be related to substance use, but little attention is paid to the role of personality risk dimensions with regard to an early onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use. Therefore, the current study used a variable-centered approach to examine whether anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, sensation seeking, and impulsivity predict the onset of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use in early adolescence. Additionally, we adopted a person-centered approach to examine whether different personality subgroups could be identified, and whether these subgroups would be predictive of substance use. For that purpose, longitudinal data of a broader effectiveness study were used from 758 early adolescents (53 % female) aged 11-14 years. Structural equation models showed that hopelessness and sensation seeking were predictive of having ever used alcohol and tobacco. Also, sensation seeking was predictive of marijuana use. Latent profile analyses on the first wave data revealed a three-profile solution for boys (i.e., resilients, internalizers, and externalizers) and a two-profile solution for girls (i.e., resilients and internalizers). In contrast to our expectation, further analyses revealed no significant differences in substance use between the different subprofiles for both boys and girls. The separate personality dimensions thus seem more relevant in predicting the onset of substance use compared to the personality profiles. However, the personality profiles might be informative in explaining more excessive substance use behaviors.

Subgroups of Adult Basic Education Learners with Different Profiles of Reading Skills

The purpose of this study was to identify subgroups of adult basic education (ABE) learners with different profiles of skills in the core reading components of decoding, word recognition, spelling, fluency, and comprehension. The analysis uses factor scores of those 5 reading components from on a prior investigation of the reliability and construct validity of measures of reading component skills (MacArthur, Konold, Glutting, & Alamprese, 2010). In that investigation, confirmatory factor analysis found that a model with those 5 factors fit the data best and fit equally well for native and non-native English speakers. The study included 486 students, 334 born or educated in the United States (native) and 152 not born nor educated in the US (non-native) but who spoke English well enough to participate in English reading classes. The cluster analysis found an 8-cluster solution with good internal cohesion, external isolation, and replicability across subsamples. Of the 8 subgroups, 4 had relatively flat profiles (range of mean scores across factors < 0.5 SD), 2 had higher comprehension than decoding, and 2 had higher decoding than comprehension. Profiles were consistent with expectations regarding demographic factors. Non-native speakers were overrepresented in subgroups with relatively higher decoding and underrepresented in subgroups with relatively higher comprehension. Adults with self-reported learning disabilities were overrepresented in the lowest performing subgroup. Older adults and men were overrepresented in subgroups with lower performance. The study adds to the limited research on the reading skills of ABE learners and, from the perspective of practice, supports the importance of assessing component skills to plan instruction.

A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Risks for Depressive Symptoms in Children and Young Adolescents

Youths with high (N = 52) or low cognitive vulnerability (N = 48) for depression were selected from a larger sample (N = 515) of students (7-10 years old), based on their attributional style (AS), negative cognitions (NC), and/or self-competence (SC). Long-term effects of cognitive vulnerabilities on depressive symptoms were examined in a 3-year, three-wave, multiinformant, longitudinal design. Three findings emerged. First, some empirical overlap exists among these three types of cognitive diatheses, especially between NC and SC. Second, the combination of AS, NC, and SC had a significant (but diminishing) relationship to depressive symptoms at 6, 18, and 30 months, primarily due to NC and SC, not AS. Third, interactions between cognitive risk and life events were not significant, suggesting an additive type of diathesis-stress model for depression in young adolescents.

The relationship between early sexual debut and psychosocial outcomes: a longitudinal study of Dutch adolescents

In a longitudinal dataset of 470 Dutch adolescents, the current study examined the ways in which early sexual initiation was related to subsequent attachment, self-perception, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. For male adolescents, analyses revealed general attachment to mother and externalizing problems at Wave 1 to predict to early transition at Wave 2. However, there was no differential change in these psychosocial factors over time for early initiators of sexual intercourse and their non-initiating peers. For female adolescents, the model including psychosocial factors at Wave 1 did not predict to sexual initiation at Wave 2. However, univariate repeated measures analyses revealed early initiators to have significantly larger increases in self-concept and externalizing problems than their non-initiating female peers. While the difference between female early initiators and non-initiators were statistically significant, the mean levels of problem behaviors were very low. The findings suggest that, contrary to previous research, early sexual initiation does not seem to be clustered with problem behaviors for this sample of Dutch adolescents.

Adolescent behavioral, affective, and cognitive engagement in school: relationship to dropout

BACKGROUND

High school dropout represents an important public health issue. This study assessed the 3 distinct dimensions of student engagement in high school and examined the relationships between the nature and course of such experiences and later dropout.

METHODS

We administered questionnaires to 13,330 students (44.7% boys) from 69 high schools in the province of Quebec (Canada). During 3 consecutive high school years, students reported their behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement to school. Information on later dropout status was obtained through official records.

RESULTS

Although many adolescents remained highly engaged in high school, one third reported changes, especially decreases in rule compliance, interest in school, and willingness to learn. Students reporting low engagement or important decrements in behavioral investment from the beginning of high school presented higher risks of later dropout.

CONCLUSION

School-based interventions should address the multiple facets of high school experiences to help adolescents successfully complete their basic schooling. Creating a positive social-emotional learning environment promises better adolescent achievement and, in turn, will contribute to a healthier lifestyle.

Concurrent changes in conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescents: a developmental person-centered approach

The co-occurrence of conduct problems (CP) and depressive symptoms (DS) is an important topic in developmental psychopathology; however, research in this area is still in its early stages. Using data from a school-based longitudinal sample of 2,453 adolescents with five waves from Grade 6 to 9, we examined the prevalence, etiology, and consequences of the co-occurrence of CP and DS. A person-centered approach, general growth mixture modeling, was applied to obtain CP and DS trajectory groups. The risk factors and consequences of the co-occurrence problem were examined using the trajectory groups. As hypothesized in a nonclinical sample, a small proportion of boys (8.8%) and girls (3.7%) reported to be high in both CP and DS over time. Among the adolescents with the highest level of CP, only 6.3% of the boys and 6.0% of the girls experienced the highest level of DS. However, among those with the highest level of DS trajectories, 42.9% of the boys and 10.2% of the girls reported the highest level of CP, indicating a gender-specific risk of the co-occurrence problem for depressed boys. Psychosocial and family factors were identified as vulnerable precursors to co-occurring CP and DS, a finding in line with the multiple domain risk model for CP and the transactional model for DS. The study also found that adolescents with the co-occurrence problem were more similar to those with "pure DS" than those with "pure CP" in academic adjustment at the ninth grade.

Estimating co-occurring behavioral trajectories within a neighborhood context: a case study of multivariate transition models for clustered data

Comorbidity is well-documented in psychiatric and risk behavior epidemiology. The authors present a novel application of clustered multivariate transition models to study comorbidity within a clustered context. The authors used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (1995-2002) to assess trajectories in substance use, problems with police, and antisocial behavior among 1,517 participants in 80 neighborhoods followed from ages 12-15 years through ages 18-21 years. The authors used pairwise odds ratios to quantify behavior comorbidity at the individual and neighborhood levels. Risk behaviors co-occurred within individuals at specific points in time: antisocial behavior and substance use were 3.37 times more likely to co-occur within an individual at wave 1, as compared with the co-occurrence of any 2 behaviors from different individuals, while substance use and police problems were 2.94 times more likely to co-occur than substance use and antisocial behavior at wave 2. The authors also evaluated sequential comorbidity. Antisocial behavior was sequentially comorbid with substance use and police problems: 31% of youths who had reported antisocial behavior at baseline reported police problems or drug use at wave 2. These models can prove instrumental in answering the persistent questions about possible sequential relations among problem behaviors.

Patterns of memory: a normative taxonomy of the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning-Second Edition (WRAML-2)

Memory is arguably the most important function of cognition. When left undetected, memory impairments are linked to life long underachievement and negative social consequences. Given that the construct of memory is multidimensional, the current study examined patterns of multiple indicators associated with memory across individuals ranging in age from 5 to 85 years who had been administered the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning-Second Edition (WRAML-2). Multistage cluster analysis with independent age replications was used to empirically identify normative profiles in a sample of (n = 1172) typically developing individuals. This procedure considered how various indicators of memory operate in concert by accounting for the nonlinear multivariate relationships among them. Results supported nine common (or core) profile types that satisfied all formal heuristic and statistical criteria, including complete coverage, satisfactory within-type homogeneity, between-type dissimilarity, and replicability. A summary of the defining characteristics for each profile is provided.

Risk factor clustering for psychopathology in socially at-risk Spanish children

BACKGROUND

Data based on general population studies of exposure-to-risk factors is not adequate to describe the mental health of children living in the most extreme "high-risk" environments.

METHODS

Data were collected in a longitudinal prospective study of two cohorts of 9 and 13 year-old socially at-risk children. Cluster analysis was used to classify youths based on the reports about potential areas of risk. The psychopathological structure of empirical clusters was compared through cross-sectional and longitudinal epidemiological indexes and through multiple regression and multivariate analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Cluster analysis provided eight binary high-low risk classifications. Exposure to risk was highly prevalent. In preadolescence, broken family, parenting style and contextual profiles were the highest risk factors for psychopathology. In adolescence, they were psychological variables, verbal comprehension, pre-peri-postnatal history, physical health and family characteristics. Cumulative risk followed a linear trend for psychopathology and functional impairment. The child's perception of low marital discord and good school achievement were protective factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Extreme socially at-risk populations have specific profiles of risk that can be identified through a person-centered approach and may be amenable to selective preventive interventions.

A model-based cluster analysis approach to adolescent problem behaviors and young adult outcomes

Data from a community-based sample of 1,126 10th- and 11th-grade adolescents were analyzed using a model-based cluster analysis approach to empirically identify heterogeneous adolescent subpopulations from the person-oriented and pattern-oriented perspectives. The model-based cluster analysis is a new clustering procedure to investigate population heterogeneity utilizing finite mixture multivariate normal densities and accordingly to classify subpopulations using more rigorous statistical procedures for the comparison of alternative models. Four cluster groups were identified and labeled multiproblem high-risk, smoking high-risk, normative, and low-risk groups. The multiproblem high risk exhibited a constellation of high levels of problem behaviors, including delinquent and sexual behaviors, multiple illicit substance use, and depressive symptoms at age 16. They had risky temperamental attributes and lower academic functioning and educational expectations at age 15.5 and, subsequently, at age 24 completed fewer years of education, and reported lower levels of physical health and higher levels of continued involvement in substance use and abuse. The smoking high-risk group was also found to be at risk for poorer functioning in young adulthood, compared to the low-risk group. The normative and the low risk groups were, by and large, similar in their adolescent and young adult functioning. The continuity and comorbidity path from middle adolescence to young adulthood may be aided and abetted by chronic as well as episodic substance use by adolescents.