Relationship between Personality Traits and Subjective Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood: Moderating Role of Independent and Interdependent Self-Construal

During emerging adulthood, individuals' subjective well-being declines owing to challenges regarding identity, work, and romantic relationships. Although the relationships among personality traits, self-construal, and well-being have been examined, studies have focused on personal rather than relational subjective well-being. Furthermore, self-construal's moderating effect on the relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined the relationships among the Big-five personality traits and subjective well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, and interdependent happiness) and the moderating effect of self-construal among 1548 Japanese emerging adults (Mage = 22.24, SD = 1.01). Regression analysis indicated that all aspects of subjective well-being were negatively associated with neuroticism and positively associated with extraversion, independent and interdependent self-construal. Further, agreeableness was positively associated with personal and relational well-being. Independent or interdependent self-construal can moderate the relationships between neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness and subjective well-being. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for improving Japanese emerging adults' well-being.

Exploring trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress in university students of different identity statuses in Lithuania and Japan

Emerging adulthood is the time when identity questions are addressed. It is also a time of excessive stress and risk for mental health problems. Different identity statuses relate to different mental health outcomes. Yet, little research has addressed how identity status is interlinked with trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress reactions, especially in multicultural contexts. The current study aimed to explore whether different traumatic experiences are related to the current identity status of university students aged between 18 and 29 years and investigate to what extent trauma-exposed emerging adults of different identity statuses report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD). In total, 2237 university students from Lithuania (n = 791) and Japan (n = 1345) participated in the current study. Identity profiles were revealed by using the Latent Class Analysis approach. Lithuania and Japan were comparable in terms of identity profiles and structure of PTSD/CPTSD. Trauma-exposed emerging adults reported a higher probability of being in troubled diffusion identity status; students in achievement identity status had a lower probability of CPTSD and lower rates of symptoms of disturbances in self-organization. The diffused identity of emerging adults from Lithuania and Japan is associated with trauma exposure, and positive identity is linked with fewer CPTSD reactions.

The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale: Cross-national measurement invariance and convergent validity evidence

Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a widely used measure that captures somatic symptoms of coronavirus-related anxiety. In a large-scale collaboration spanning 60 countries (Ntotal = 21,513), we examined the CAS's measurement invariance and assessed the convergent validity of CAS scores in relation to the fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S) and the satisfaction with life (SWLS-3) scales. We utilized both conventional exact invariance tests and alignment procedures, with results revealing that the single-factor model fit the data well in almost all countries. Partial scalar invariance was supported in a subset of 56 countries. To ensure the robustness of results, given the unbalanced samples, we employed resampling techniques both with and without replacement and found the results were more stable in larger samples. The alignment procedure demonstrated a high degree of measurement invariance with 9% of the parameters exhibiting noninvariance. We also conducted simulations of alignment using the parameters estimated in the current model. Findings demonstrated reliability of the means but indicated challenges in estimating the latent variances. Strong positive correlations between CAS and FCV-19S estimated with all three different approaches were found in most countries. Correlations of CAS and SWLS-3 were weak and negative but significantly differed from zero in several countries. Overall, the study provided support for the measurement invariance of the CAS and offered evidence of its convergent validity while also highlighting issues with variance estimation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescents' Identity Development Predicts the Transition and the Adjustment to Tertiary Education or Work

Although identity development is crucial in individuals' psychological adjustment from adolescence to adulthood, little is known about its impact in the transition to tertiary education or work. This study examined whether identity development during high school predicts career choices and adjustment (i.e., engagement) and maladjustment (i.e., burnout) after graduation. A total of 357 Japanese adolescents participated throughout the 3-year period of vocational high school (Mage = 15.75; 62.75% girls). A follow-up assessment, at 18 months after the school-to-tertiary education or school-to-work transitions, was conducted. Higher identity synthesis during high school years predicted entry into tertiary education, while higher identity confusion predicted transition to work. Furthermore, higher identity synthesis during the high school years predicted higher post-graduation academic engagement, and higher levels of identity confusion predicted higher levels of post-graduation academic or work burnout. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the role of identity development in adolescence as a valuable asset for predicting the transition and the adjustment to tertiary education or work.

Identity development and online and offline prosocial behaviors among early and middle adolescents

Research has demonstrated that adolescents of the digital age engage in developmental tasks by interacting with others in both online and offline environments. However, no studies have investigated how adolescents develop their identity, a crucial developmental task, by engaging in online and offline prosocial behaviors. To address this research gap, we examined the role of online and offline prosocial behavior in identity development during adolescence using variable- and person-centered approaches. The participants were 608 individuals in early adolescence (50.2% girls; age range = 12-13 years, M_age = 12.75 years, SD = 0.43) and 594 individuals in middle adolescence (50.3% girls; age range = 15-16 years, M_age = 15.79 years, SD = 0.41) in Japan. They completed questionnaires to measure identity development, online and offline prosocial behavior, and demographic characteristics. The results from the variable-centered approach (i.e., identity dimensions) revealed that both online and offline prosocial behaviors were positively related to commitments and proactive explorations in early and middle adolescence. The findings from the person-centered approach (i.e., identity statuses) demonstrated that early and middle adolescents with higher levels of online prosocial behavior were more likely to show searching moratorium than all other identity statuses, whereas those with higher levels of offline prosocial behavior were more likely to show achievement than troubled diffusion, carefree diffusion, and undifferentiated. Consistent with both variable- and person-centered approaches, these findings highlight that online prosocial behavior can be a new resource for identity development in adolescence. Moreover, the results suggest that online prosocial behaviors lead to identity status in the process of maturing identity and that offline prosocial behavior is necessary to become more mature identity status. Regarding practical implications, educating adolescents on digital media literacy, including supportive behavior in online environments, is crucial to gradually exploring their identity. In addition, for adolescents to develop more mature identity, adults should create in-person environments in which they participate in offline prosocial behavior. The limitations of our findings with respect to the online and offline prosocial behavior scale items are discussed.

Patterns of Personality Development and Psychosocial Functioning in Japanese Adolescents: A Four-Wave Longitudinal Study

While patterns of adolescent personality development are country-specific, previous studies that have examined them have been limited to the Netherlands and Finland. This study aimed to identify the patterns of personality development and examine the relationship between these patterns and psychosocial functioning among Japanese adolescents. Overall, 618 Japanese adolescents (49.5% girls; 16 years) participated in the annual longitudinal survey from 2013 to 2016. Using latent class growth analysis, the following four patterns of personality development were identified: resilient, over-controlled, vulnerable, and moderate. Although the mean-level changes in the Big Five domains were generally insignificant among the four patterns, the vulnerable pattern showed a progressive increase in conscientiousness, and the moderate pattern showed a decrease in neuroticism and an increase in conscientiousness. Furthermore, multivariate analysis of variance tests indicated that the resilient pattern showed higher subjective well-being and lower psychosocial problems than the other personality patterns; the over-controlled pattern showed higher internalizing problems than the resilient pattern; the vulnerable pattern showed lower subjective well-being and higher internalizing problems than the other patterns; and the moderate pattern scored between the resilient, over-controlled, and vulnerable patterns in both subjective well-being and psychosocial problems. These findings suggest that the vulnerable and moderate patterns, which are immature patterns compared to the resilient and over-controlled ones, showed positive changes to the direction of maturity from middle to late adolescence in Japan.

Trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress, and identity content valences among Japanese adolescents

INTRODUCTION

Theorists and a few empirical studies have suggested that traumatic experiences, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and complex PTSD (CPTSD) may affect identity development. However, existing studies have overlooked how adolescents' traumas are associated with the alignment of their identity with socio-cultural expectations, which is a crucial component of identity development. To address this gap, this study examined the associations of various types of potentially traumatic experiences and PTSD and CPTSD symptoms with the positive and negative valences of identity affected by desirable and undesirable images within socio-cultural contexts.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey of 341 adolescents (44.0% girls; M_age  = 14.8, SD = 1.8) was conducted in Japan.

RESULTS

Exposure to certain types of potentially traumatic events (e.g., family violence and physical attack) were related to high levels of negative identity elements, whereas none of the types were related to positive identity elements. The results also indicated that CPTSD-specific symptoms of disturbances in self-organization (DSO) were related to high levels of negative identity elements rather than PTSD.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings expand upon related research by suggesting that adolescents' exposure to some types of traumatic events (e.g., family violence and physical attack) and posttraumatic DSO symptoms have the potential to disturb the alignment of their identities with socio-cultural expectations.

Profiles of Emotional Separation and Parental Trust from Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: Age Differences and Associations with Identity and Life Satisfaction

Youth become psychologically independent by emotionally separating from their parents and simultaneously developing a sense of trust in them. While these relational components have been addressed separately, studies focusing on the change in dynamics of these components are lacking. This study examined profiles of parent-youth relationship quality based on emotional separation and parental trust, age differences in the prevalence of these profiles, and age differences in the associations between the profiles, identity, and life satisfaction. Participants included 14,428 youth living in Japan from five age groups (44.8% girls/women; M_age = 20.6 years; range = 12-25 years). Six profiles were identified: healthy-independent, unhealthy-independent, balanced, moderate/ambivalent, connected, and distant. The connected profile was predominant among early adolescents, while the healthy-independent profile was predominant among late adolescents and early and middle emerging adults. Among all age groups, identity synthesis was the highest in the healthy-independent profile, and life satisfaction was the highest and identity confusion was the lowest in the healthy-independent and connected profiles. These findings indicate that young people navigate the process of becoming independent from their parents by balancing emotional separation and parental trust, and this balance relates to identity development and life satisfaction.

The bidirectional associations of rumination with values-based action and depression among young adults in the school-to-work transition

BACKGROUND

School-to-work transition is crucial for young adults, requiring them to maintain their values-based action, even though this task is likely to cause rumination associated with depression. In the HExAGoN model, individuals with rumination tend to engage in abstract-analytic thought (AAT) but not in concrete-experiential thought (CET). Although this inflexible style of thought is assumed to decrease values-based action and increase depression, no empirical research has examined these relationships in young adults during their transition period. Therefore, this study examined the bidirectional relationships between AAT, CET, depression, and values-based action in young adults.

METHODS

A one-year five-wave longitudinal survey was conducted on 756 third-year university students who engaged in job searches in Japan. Cross-lagged panel model and random-intercept cross-lagged panel model were used to estimate the bidirectional relationships at the between-person and within-person levels, respectively.

RESULTS

AAT and CET had bidirectional associations with depression and values-based action at the between-person level. Furthermore, CET decreased depression and marginally improved values-based action at the within-person level.

LIMITATIONS

The study comprised only university students in Japan and had a high attrition rate.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that CET can reduce depression and improve values-based action in young adults undergoing the transition. It may also expand the understanding of the treatment and prevention of depression in young adults.

Direction of associations between personality traits and educational identity processes: Between- and within-person associations

INTRODUCTION

In adolescence, personality traits and educational identity processes are interwoven. Previous studies have shown that personality traits predict healthy identity commitment and exploration in education. However, the direction of associations between personality traits and an identity process that searches for another identity option (i.e., reconsideration of commitment) is unclear. Furthermore, there is a lack of prospective studies regarding the direction of the association between personality traits and the educational identity process using within-person methods. Therefore, this study examined the direction of these associations.

METHODS

Participants of this four-wave longitudinal study comprised 618 Japanese 13-year-old adolescents (53.3% girls). This study involved a 1-year-interval assessment.

RESULTS

Cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) indicated that four personality traits (neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) predicted three educational identity processes, while reconsideration of commitment predicted two personality traits (i.e., neuroticism and conscientiousness). Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) indicated that agreeableness predicted healthy commitment, while commitment predicted agreeableness at within-person level.

CONCLUSION

The findings from CLPM suggest that reconsideration of commitment is a significant factor to predict healthy (i.e., conscientiousness) and unhealthy (i.e., neuroticism) personality traits in individual differences. Furthermore, the findings from RI-CLPM suggest that agreeableness may be a key trait in promoting healthy educational identity commitment. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Daily Identity Processes and Emotions in Young Adulthood: a Five-Day Daily-Diary Method

The process of exploring and committing to one’s identity for the sake of a future-oriented goal is important for young adults’ psychosocial functioning. Whereas the relationship between identity process and psychosocial functioning has been examined in long-term longitudinal studies, the short-term relationship between the two at the daily level has not been clarified. This study developed a measure of daily-level identity process and examined their relationship with daily positive and negative emotions, using a five-day daily-diary method. The participants included 721 Japanese young adults aged 18–30 years (54.4% female, M_age = 26.05 years). Results indicated the measure’s three-factor structure, including commitment, active exploration, and ruminative exploration. Commitment related positively to life satisfaction and happiness, and negatively related to depression. Active exploration and ruminative exploration indicated negative associations with life satisfaction and happiness, and positive association depression. Latent profile analysis extracted five theoretically meaningful identity profiles at the daily level: foreclosure, moratorium, troubled diffusion, searching moratorium, and carefree diffusion. Logistic regression analyses indicated that troubled diffusion and moratorium, and foreclosure profiles showed lower and higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness, respectively. These results provided evidence of a strong link between young adult’s identity processes, profiles, and positive and negative emotions at the everyday level. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Trajectories in sense of identity and relationship with life satisfaction during adolescence and young adulthood

Previous research on identity development among adolescents has focused on the processes involved. However, it is unclear how the sense of identity (synthesis and confusion) develops and how it relates to life satisfaction. This study aims to examine the relationship between sense of identity and life satisfaction among Japanese youth living in the urban Kanto, Kansai, and Chubu areas. A total of 5,047 Japanese youth (49.7% female; Time 1 M_age = 17.08 years, range = 12-22 years) in four age groups (early adolescence, middle adolescence, late adolescence, and young adulthood) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. Latent growth modeling (LGM) analysis revealed that from early to middle adolescence, synthesis continued to be higher than confusion, whereas from late adolescence to young adulthood, confusion tended to be higher than synthesis. The results of the LGM further showed that the change in synthesis was positively related to the change in life satisfaction and the change in confusion was negatively related to it in all age groups. Using latent class growth analysis (LCGA), five identity classes were extracted: high synthesis-low confusion, low synthesis-high confusion, high synthesis-high confusion, low synthesis-low confusion, and moderate synthesis-moderate confusion. LCGA revealed that youth in the high synthesis classes had a higher sense of life satisfaction than did youth in high confusion classes. These findings provide critical insights into trajectories of identity formation and the relationship between identity development and life satisfaction among Japanese youth that can inform future research and programs designed to facilitate their identity formation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Diverse Trajectories of Hikikomori Symptoms During Job Search and the Role of Identity Distress: Three Wave Longitudinal Research

OBJECTIVE

Hikikomori, a prolonged form of social withdrawal, has received attention in various research areas. This longitudinal study aimed to identify diverse trajectories of hikikomori symptoms among young Japanese adults engaged in a job search. It also tested whether identity distress, a critical developmental issue, predicts these trajectories while controlling for other risk factors (depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, career expectations, and gender).

METHODS

A total of 756 third-year Japanese university students (at Time 1, M _age = 20.88 years; women: 78.97%) who engaged in job search participated in our three-wave longitudinal survey at six-month intervals. To assess hikikomori symptoms, we used the 25-item Hikikomori Questionnaire. In addition, identity distress was measured using the 10-item Identity Distress Survey.

RESULTS

Latent class growth analysis revealed four different trajectories of hikikomori symptoms. Most young adults showed severe levels and escalating hikikomori symptoms over time. In contrast, a small proportion of young adults prevented hikikomori symptoms through the period of job search. Additionally, young adults with more severe levels of identity distress followed trajectories marked by severe hikikomori symptoms after controlling for other risk factors.

CONCLUSION

The present study's findings contribute to developing a primary intervention for hikikomori symptoms by identifying the period of greatest risk. Group-based counseling support for hikikomori from the perspective of identity is recommended.

Identity processes and identity content valences: Examining bidirectionality

Developing identities that are well-aligned with sociocultural expectations is a key psychosocial developmental task for adolescents and emerging adults. Most studies have examined identity development focusing on how individuals develop their identities (identity process), such as identity exploration and commitment. Meanwhile, researchers have emphasized incorporating the what of identity development (identity content) with identity processes to further the understanding of identity development in sociocultural contexts. This study focuses on the positive and negative valences of identity defined by desirable and undesirable images shared in sociocultural contexts. We investigated the bidirectional associations of identity exploration and commitment processes with positive and negative identity elements using longitudinal data over three measurement waves. Participants were 2,313 Japanese emerging adults enrolled in higher education (70.95% women; Mage = 20.43). The cross-lagged panel analysis and random-intercept cross-lagged panel analysis were used to estimate associations at both between- and within-person levels. Results indicated that commitment making negatively predicted negative identity elements, whereas identification with commitment positively predicted positive identity elements. Meanwhile, positive identity elements positively predicted identification with commitment only for participants with low levels of negative identity elements, while negative identity elements negatively predicted commitment making and identification with commitment. These associations were found only at the between-person level. The findings highlight that emerging adults develop identities through close interactions in which they engage in identity exploration and commitment processes, as well as construct identity content valences. Developmental sequences of identity, along with their sociocultural contexts and practical implications, are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional separation, parental trust, and psychosocial adjustment in preadolescence and early adolescence

INTRODUCTION

Emotional separation and parental trust are two fundamental components of parent-adolescent relationships across different cultural contexts. Previous research showed that emotional separation hindered adolescents' psychosocial adjustment, while parental trust benefited it. However, research on preadolescence is lacking. Preadolescence is a crucial period, as theories and findings suggest that too early autonomy around puberty had negative consequences for psychosocial adjustment. This study focused on preadolescence and early adolescence and tested two hypotheses: that emotional separation would be negatively, and parental trust would be positively, associated with psychosocial adjustment, and that this pattern of associations would be more salient in preadolescence than in early adolescence.

METHODS

Participants were 856 preadolescent elementary schoolers (49.6% girls; age range 9-12 years, M_age = 10.79, SD = 0.92) and 518 early adolescent junior high schoolers (47.7% girls, age range 12-15 years; M_age = 13.56, SD = 0.98) in Japan, who completed measures of emotional separation, parental trust, and psychosocial adjustment (industry, school adaptation, and daily life behaviors).

RESULTS

Emotional separation was negatively associated with reviewing learning contents and doing homework. Parental trust was positively associated with industry, school adaptation, waking up at regular times, and observing rules at school. These relationships did not differ between age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights that emotional separation has a negative relationship, and parental trust has a positive relationship, with psychosocial adjustment throughout preadolescence and adolescence.

Considering the negatively formed identity: Relationships between negative identity and problematic psychosocial beliefs

INTRODUCTION

Developing a firm sense of identity is a critical developmental task in adolescence and emerging adulthood, but little or no empirical research exists regarding individuals who firmly form negative identities and psychosocial beliefs. This study examined the formation of negative identities in youth and its association with psychosocial beliefs in terms of variable-oriented psychosocial facets (i.e., dichotomous beliefs, cynicism, and social distrust) and person-oriented psychosocial profiles.

METHODS

A total of 2313 young Japanese people (70.9% were females) aged 18-25 years answered the self-report questionnaire.

RESULTS

We consequently found that individuals with negative identities possessed problematic psychosocial facets, such as high dichotomous beliefs and cynicism, as well as low social trust. Furthermore, individuals with negative identities had profile characterized by strong hostility toward others/societies.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, our study provided a comprehensive understanding of how youth with negative identities face difficulty in constructing relationships with society, which has been neglected in prior research.

A systematic analysis of neurons with large somatosensory receptive fields covering multiple body regions in the secondary somatosensory area of macaque monkeys

Previous neurophysiological studies performed in macaque monkeys have revealed complex somatosensory responses in the secondary somatosensory area (SII), such as large receptive fields (RFs), as well as bilateral ones. However, systematic analyses of neurons with large RFs have not been performed. In the present study, we recorded single-unit activities in SII of awake macaque monkeys to investigate systematically large RFs by dividing the whole body into four body regions (head, trunk, forelimb, and hindlimb). Recorded neurons were classified into two types, according to whether the RFs were confined to one body region: single (n = 817) and combined (n = 282) body-region types. These two types were distinct in terms of the percentage of bilateral RFs: 55% in the single-region type and 90% in the combined type, demonstrating that two types of RF enlargement occur simultaneously in the combined type, namely, RF convergence from different body regions and RF convergence from both hemibodies. Among the combined-type RFs, two tendencies of RF convergence were found: 1) the distal parts of the limbs (i.e., hand and foot) and the mouth are interconnected, and 2) the trunk RFs extend continuously toward the distal parts of the limb and head to cover the entire body surface. Our distribution analysis on unfolded maps clarified that neurons having RFs with these two tendencies were distributed within specific subregions in SII.

New insight into the mitotic chromosome structure: irregular folding of nucleosome fibers without 30-nm chromatin structure

Mitotic chromosomes are essential structures for the faithful transmission of replicated genomic DNA into two daughter cells during cell division. A long strand of DNA is wrapped around a core histone and forms a nucleosome. The nucleosome has long been assumed to be folded into 30-nm chromatin fibers. However, how the nucleosome or 30-nm chromatin fiber is organized into mitotic chromosomes remains unclear, although condensins and topoisomerase IIα are implicated in the condensation process. In fact, what do mitotic chromosomes look like in living cells? When frozen hydrated human mitotic cells were observed using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), higher-order structures including 30-nm chromatin fibers were not found. We thus propose that the nucleosome fibers in the bulk of mitotic chromosomes do not form 30-nm chromatin fibers but instead exist in a highly irregular state that is locally similar to a polymer melt. We provide new insight into mitotic chromosome structure.

Acquisition and development of monkey tool-use: behavioral and kinematic analyses

Four Japanese macaques were trained in the use of a T-shaped rake. Use the tool and development of the level of the skill of tool-use took place in three distinct stages. During stage 1, two of the monkeys seemed to use insight for initial solution, while fortuitous experiences led the other two monkeys to the solution. All the monkeys used the tool in a stereotyped manner and could retrieve food only when the tool was placed close to the food. At stage 2 the monkeys became able to manipulate the tool in various ways and became able to retrieve the food regardless of its position. By stage 3 they had developed the level of skill required for efficient retrieval. Further experiments revealed that the monkeys attempted to use unfamiliar objects which were similar to the original tool in shape, but not spherical or ring-shaped objects, to rake in the food.