The Journal of Early Adolescence

This special issue highlights a number of important processes that help explain the emergence and continuation of internalizing psychopathology (i.e., problem behaviors characterized by inner distress) during early adolescence. The five articles making up the special issue are introduced, each of which represents exciting new work regarding how, why, and for whom internalizing problems develop and are maintained. The introduction to the special issue further elaborates on transdiagnostic and person-oriented approaches, internalizing interpretations and functional effects of internalizing as relatively underused methodological and theoretical perspectives that might help move the field forward and further our understanding regarding the development of internalizing psychopathology early on in life.

This study investigates the impact of early adolescent internalizing symptoms on family functioning for girls and boys, as moderated by perceived stress. Surveys were administered to 1,344 middle school students (11-14 years; 51% girls; 51% non-Hispanic White) in the fall of 2016 (T1) and 6 months later in the spring of 2017 (T2). For boys, depressive symptoms predicted less family conflict only among those with low stress. For girls, depressive symptoms predicted less adolescent-mother communication among those with low stress, but more communication among those with high stress. Also for girls, anxiety predicted more family cohesion in girls with low stress, but less cohesion among those with high stress. Finally, anxiety predicted less adolescent-father communication only among girls with low stress. Findings underscore the complex role that perceived stress plays when considering the impact of internalizing symptoms on family functioning in early adolescent girls and boys.

This study examined the temporal relation between self-competence and depressive symptoms in a large, diverse, U.S. community sample of 1,344 adolescents (51% female; X ¯ a g e = 12.73, SD = .69, range = 11-14 years). Surveys were administered to seventh- and eighth-grade students at participating high schools in the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2017. Girls reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and self-competence in behavioral conduct and close friendships than boys, whereas boys reported higher levels of self-competence in athletic, physical appearance, and social domains than girls. Results from autoregressive, cross-lagged path models indicated that depressive symptoms predicted self-competence more consistently than the reverse. There were no gender differences in the associations between self-competence and depressive symptoms. Findings from this study underscore the importance of considering both directions of effect when examining psychosocial factors associated with depressive symptoms during early adolescence.

School connectedness is an important feature to consider within the school environment because it likely accounts for why some youth thrive and others struggle with internalizing problems. Furthermore, internalizing problems typically do not occur in isolation of each other, but rather anxiety and depressive symptoms frequently co-occur and increase subsequent risk for each other. As such, the primary study objectives were to (a) evaluate the bidirectional relationships between school connectedness and internalizing symptoms and (b) examine whether being at high risk of an anxiety disorder or major depression moderated these relationships. Adolescents attending public middle schools (N = 1,344; 11-14 years; 51% female; 52% White) completed surveys in school at baseline and at a 6-month follow-up. Baseline anxiety disorder risk status moderated the relationships between school connectedness and internalizing symptoms. Among adolescents at low risk of an anxiety disorder, higher baseline school connectedness predicted improvements in depressive symptoms and, conversely, higher baseline depressive symptoms predicted lower school connectedness. School connectedness and depressive symptoms were unrelated among adolescents at high risk of an anxiety disorder. There were no significant associations between school connectedness and anxiety symptoms, regardless of baseline risk for major depression. Implications for school-based intervention strategies are discussed, such as fostering school connectedness and screening for internalizing problems.

This present study investigated the longitudinal relations between depressive symptoms and achievement goals and whether maternal and paternal rejection moderated these relations. A sample of 436 early adolescents ( X ¯ _age = 13.19, 58.33% girls) filled in scales measuring the depressive symptoms (Time 1), parental rejection (Time 2; 1 year later), and achievement goals (Time 2). Early adolescents’ depressive symptoms were positively related to performance-avoidance goals and negatively related to mastery and performance-approach goals. Furthermore, the father’s rejection was positively related to the adolescents’ performance-avoidance and negatively related to mastery goals, whereas maternal rejection was not related to achievement goals. Finally, maternal rejection moderated the association between depressive symptoms and performance-avoidance goals 1 year later. The implications of these results for future studies and educational practices are discussed.

A growing body of research has acknowledged the heterogeneity of subclinical social anxiety, identifying a subgroup of individuals who exhibit high levels of impulsivity. In a sample of Swedish early adolescents (N = 2,509, M_age = 13.64; 52.8% girls), we conducted latent transition analyses (LTA) to identify four classes of subclinical social anxiety-impulsivity across three time points. We identified a Low Social Anxiety-Low Impulsivity class, as well as a High Anxiety-High Impulsivity class for girls and boys, which had high levels of Time-4 internalizing problems. The latter class was less stable but larger for boys. There was also a more typical High Anxiety-Low Impulsivity class for both genders. Nevertheless, Low Anxiety-High Impulsivity girls and boys fared the worst in terms of both internalizing and externalizing problems later on. To our knowledge, this is the first study to adopt an LTA framework to investigate trajectories of early adolescent social anxiety-impulsivity over time.