TY - JOUR
T1 - Individual differences in anxiety trajectories from Grades 2 to 8
T2 - Impact of the middle school transition
AU - Nelemans, Stefanie A.
AU - Hale, William W.
AU - Branje, Susan J.T.
AU - Meeus, Wim H.J.
AU - Rudolph, Karen D.
N1 - Funding Information:
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9045-8124 Nelemans Stefanie A. a Hale William W. III a Branje Susan J. T. a Meeus Wim H. J. a b Rudolph Karen D. c a Utrecht University b Tilburg University c University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign This research was funded by a University of Illinois Arnold O. Beckman Award and National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH68444 (to K.D.R.). We thank the families and schools who participated in this study. We are grateful to Jamie Abaied, Monica Agoston, Hannah Banagale, Megan Flynn, Ellie Hessel, Nicole Llewellyn, Michelle Miernicki, Jo Pauly, Jennifer Monti, and Niwako Sugimura for their assistance in data collection and management. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Stefanie A. Nelemans, Research Centre Adolescent Development , Utrecht University , PO box 80.140, 3508 TC, Utrecht , The Netherlands ; E-mail: s.a.nelemans@uu.nl . 21 11 2017 10 2018 30 4 1487 1501 Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 2017 Cambridge University Press
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - This study examined the impact of the middle school transition on general anxiety trajectories from middle childhood to middle adolescence, as well as how youths' individual vulnerability and exposure to contextual stressors were associated with anxiety trajectories. Participants were 631 youth (47% boys, M age = 7.96 years at Time 1), followed for 7 successive years from second to eighth grade. Teachers reported on youths' individual vulnerability to anxiety (anxious solitude) in second grade; youth reported on their anxiety in second to eighth grade and aspects of their social contexts particularly relevant to the school transition (school hassles, peer victimization, parent-child relationship quality, and friendship quality) in sixth to eighth grade. The results revealed two subgroups that showed either strongly increasing (5%) or decreasing (14%) levels of anxiety across the transition and two subgroups with fairly stable levels of either high (11%) or low (70%) anxiety over time. Youth in the latter two subgroups could be distinguished based on their individual vulnerability to anxiety, whereas youth with increasing anxiety reported more contextual stressors and less contextual support than youth with decreasing anxiety. In sum, findings suggest that the middle school transition has the potential to alter developmental trajectories of anxiety for some youth, for better or for worse.
AB - This study examined the impact of the middle school transition on general anxiety trajectories from middle childhood to middle adolescence, as well as how youths' individual vulnerability and exposure to contextual stressors were associated with anxiety trajectories. Participants were 631 youth (47% boys, M age = 7.96 years at Time 1), followed for 7 successive years from second to eighth grade. Teachers reported on youths' individual vulnerability to anxiety (anxious solitude) in second grade; youth reported on their anxiety in second to eighth grade and aspects of their social contexts particularly relevant to the school transition (school hassles, peer victimization, parent-child relationship quality, and friendship quality) in sixth to eighth grade. The results revealed two subgroups that showed either strongly increasing (5%) or decreasing (14%) levels of anxiety across the transition and two subgroups with fairly stable levels of either high (11%) or low (70%) anxiety over time. Youth in the latter two subgroups could be distinguished based on their individual vulnerability to anxiety, whereas youth with increasing anxiety reported more contextual stressors and less contextual support than youth with decreasing anxiety. In sum, findings suggest that the middle school transition has the potential to alter developmental trajectories of anxiety for some youth, for better or for worse.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0954579417001584
DO - 10.1017/S0954579417001584
M3 - Article
C2 - 29157324
AN - SCOPUS:85052818602
SN - 0954-5794
VL - 30
SP - 1487
EP - 1501
JO - Development and psychopathology
JF - Development and psychopathology
IS - 4
ER -