The chief goal of this study is to examine the effects of identify and career development on mental health during adolescence, including the transition from school to work. The study proposes to add to our understanding of the protective factors of adolescent mental health. It is hypothesized that the emerging sense of personal, ethnic, and national identity and career preparation protect adolescents from developing internalizing and externalizing problems behavior in middle to late adolescence whereas failure to establish an identity increases the risks of developing mental health problems. Preliminary studies suggest that there is a positive relationship between adolescent personal and ethnic identity and measures of psychological well being and negative relationships between identify formation and deteriorated mental health, alcohol abuse, and deviancy. This study will examine the interaction between the formation of an individual, national, and ethnic identity and career development during late adolescence and the pattern of change in their relationships with the overall mental health and its components. The participants in this study will comprise an ethnically diverse sample of 500 adolescents from a rural and urban area in Hawaii, representative of both sexes. The major characteristic of this sample will be that it will incorporate approximately equal numbers of adolescents from minority, majority, and ethnically mixed groups. The study will utilize a longitudinal design with four waves of data collection throughout the high school years and during the first year after graduation. Data analyses will focus on comparing different causal models in order to determine the direction of the effects and its change over time and in relation to the normative developmental transitions in adolescence.
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