This investigation extends a 10-year longitudinal study in which multiple risk and protective factors have been investigated as precursors of children's psychological and school maladjustment. The application's long-term aim is to advance knowledge about the precursors and evolution of psychological and school maladjustment from childhood through adolescence.
Specific aims are to identify and track attributes of the child and his or her social ecology, including early behavioral dispositions and relationship histories, that may significantly alter early- and later-emerging forms of dysfunction.
These aims are investigated developmentally with both normative and high-risk samples. Currently, participants are entering adolescence. Because adolescence is a time of transition and change, this developmental stage represents a critical juncture in terms of children's adjustment trajectories, perhaps marking a sensitive period in determining life-long patterns of adaptation.
Specific aims will be addressed in the context of transactional models that consider how both the child and the environment contribute to stability and change across the life course. Data will be gathered on the same predictor and adjustment indicators assessed during grades K-6, as well as on measures that tap additional forms of psychological and school adjustment--that is, indicators of health and dysfunction that are rooted in the risk profiles and trajectories identified during grade school, but nascent or endemic to adolescence. We will also assess developmental challenges presented by the transition to adolescence, including changes in the child (pubertal maturation) and environment (affiliative transitions, school stress). Novel contributions of the extension include: (a) developing and empirically validating models of continuity and change in adjustment across development; (b) identifying the processes through which early behavioral dispositions and relationship histories influence adolescent health and dysfunction; (c) determining whether early behavioral dispositions and relationship histories affect how children negotiate the transition to adolescence; (d) investigating how adolescent transitions may create discontinuity in adjustment across development; and (e) tracking the distinct developmental trajectories of boys and girls. ? ?
Showing the most recent 10 out of 18 publications
