Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T10:29:41.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Individual differences in anxiety trajectories from Grades 2 to 8: Impact of the middle school transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

Stefanie A. Nelemans*
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
William W. Hale III
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
Susan J. T. Branje
Affiliation:
Utrecht University
Wim H. J. Meeus
Affiliation:
Utrecht University Tilburg University
Karen D. Rudolph
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
*
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: [email protected].

Abstract

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.

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

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.

References

Adams, G. R., & Berzonsky, M. (Eds.). (2005). Blackwell handbook of adolescence. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Allan, N. P., Capron, D. W., Lejuez, C. W., Reynolds, E. K., MacPherson, L., & Schmidt, N. B. (2014). Developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms in early adolescence: The influence of anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42, 589600. doi:10.1007/s10802-013-9806-0Google Scholar
Armsden, G. C., & Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 427454. doi:10.1007/bf02202939Google Scholar
Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. (2014). Auxiliary variables in mixture modeling: Three-step approaches using Mplus. Structural Equation Modeling, 21, 329341. doi:10.1080/10705511.2014.915181Google Scholar
Barlow, D. H. (2002). Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and Panic (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2007). For better and for worse: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 300304. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00525.xGoogle Scholar
Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B, 57, 289300.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Rosenbaum, J. F., Chaloff, J., & Kagan, J. (1995). Behavioural inhibition as a risk factor for anxiety disorders. In March, J. S. (Ed.), Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents (pp. 6181). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Bögels, S. M., & Brechman-Toussaint, M. L. (2006). Family issues in child anxiety: Attachment, family functioning, parental rearing and beliefs. Clinical Psychology Review, 26, 834856. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.08.001Google Scholar
Bollmer, J. M., Harris, M. J., & Milich, R. (2006). Reactions to bullying and peer victimization: Narratives, physiological arousal, and personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 803828. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2005.09.003Google Scholar
Bosquet, M., & Egeland, B. (2006). The development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms from infancy through adolescence in a longitudinal sample. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 517550. doi:10.1017/S0954579406060275Google Scholar
Broeren, S., Muris, P., Diamantopoulou, S., & Baker, J. R. (2013). The course of childhood anxiety symptoms: Developmental trajectories and child-related factors in normal children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 8195. doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9669-9Google Scholar
Brown, B. B., & Larson, J. (2009). Peer relationships in adolescence. In Lerner, R. M. & Steinberg, L. (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology: Vol. 2. Contextual influences on adolescent development (3rd ed., pp. 74103). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Calkins, S. D., & Fox, N. A. (2002). Self-regulatory processes in early personality development: A multilevel approach to the study of childhood social withdrawal and aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 477498. doi:10.1017.S095457940200305XGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., Elder, G. H., & Bem, D. J. (1988). Moving away from the world: Life-course patterns of shy children. Developmental Psychology, 24, 824831. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.24.6.824Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597600. doi:10.1017/S0954579400007318Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2002). A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 620. doi:10.1037//0022-006X.70.1.6Google Scholar
Cosi, S., Canals, J., Hernández-Martinez, C., & Vigil-Colet, A. (2010). Parent-child agreement in SCARED and its relationship to anxiety symptoms. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 129133. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.09.008Google Scholar
Costello, E. J., Mustillo, S., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 837844. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.60.8.837Google Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1996). Children's treatment by peers: Victims of relational and overt aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 367380. doi:10.1017/s0954579400007148Google Scholar
Duchesne, S., Larose, S., Vitaro, F., & Tremblay, R. E. (2010). Trajectories of anxiety in a population sample of children: Clarifying the role of children's behavioral characteristics and maternal parenting. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 361373. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000118Google Scholar
Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., & Silk, J. S. (2008). Developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms among boys across early and middle childhood. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 3247. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.117.1.32Google Scholar
Garnefski, N., & Diekstra, R. F. W. (1996). Perceived social support from family, school, and peers: Relationship with emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 16571664. doi:10.1097/00004583-199612000-00018Google Scholar
Gazelle, H., & Ladd, G. W. (2003). Anxious solitude and peer exclusion: A diathesis-stress model of internalizing trajectories in childhood. Child Development, 74, 257278. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00534Google Scholar
Gazelle, H., Putallaz, M., Li, Y., Grimes, C. L., Kupersmidt, J. B., & Coie, J. D. (2005). Anxious solitude across contexts: Girls’ interactions with familiar and unfamiliar peers. Child Development, 76, 227246. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00841.xGoogle Scholar
Gazelle, H., & Rubin, K. H. (2010). Social anxiety in childhood: Bridging developmental and clinical perspectives. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 127, 116.Google Scholar
Gazelle, H., Workman, J. O., & Allan, W. (2010). Anxious solitude and clinical disorder in middle childhood: Bridging developmental and clinical approaches to childhood social anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 117. doi:10.1007/s10802-009-9343-zGoogle Scholar
Graber, J. A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1996). Transitions and turning points: Navigating the passage from childhood through adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 32, 768776. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.32.4.768Google Scholar
Graham, S., & Juvonen, J. (1998). Self-blame and peer victimization in middle school: An attributional analysis. Developmental Psychology, 34, 587599. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.34.3.587Google Scholar
Hale, W. W. III, Klimstra, T. A., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2010). Is the generalized anxiety disorder symptom of worry just another form of neuroticism? A five-year longitudinal study of adolescents from the general population. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 71, 942948. doi:10.4088/jcp.09m05506bluGoogle Scholar
Hale, W. W. III, Raaijmakers, Q. A. W., Muris, P., Van Hoof, A., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2008). Developmental trajectories of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms: A 5-year prospective community study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 556564. doi:10.1097/CHI.0b013e3181676583Google Scholar
Helsen, M., Vollebergh, W. A. M., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2000). Social support from parents and friends and emotional problems in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 319335. doi:10.1023/A:1005147708827Google Scholar
Hirshfeld-Becker, D. R., Biederman, J., & Rosenbaum, J. F. (2004). Behavioral inhibition. In Morris, T. L., & March, J. S. (Eds.), Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents (pp. 2758). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ialongo, N., Edelsohn, G., & Kellam, S. (2001). A further look at the prognostic power of young children's reports of depressed mood and feelings. Child Development, 72, 736747. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00312Google Scholar
Ialongo, N., Edelsohn, G., Werthamer-Larsson, L., Crockett, L., & Kellam, S. (1995). The significance of self-reported anxious symptoms in first grade children: Prediction to anxious symptoms and adaptive functioning in fifth grade. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 427437. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1995.tb01300.xGoogle Scholar
Jung, T., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2008). An introduction to latent class growth analysis and growth mixture modeling. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 302317. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00054.xGoogle Scholar
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., & Gibbons, J. (1989). Inhibited and uninhibited types of children. Child Development, 60, 838845. doi:10.2307/1131025Google Scholar
Kingery, J. N., Erdley, C. A., Marshall, K. C., Whitaker, K. G., & Reuter, T. R. (2010). Peer experiences of anxious and socially withdrawn youth: An integrative review of the developmental and clinical literature. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 13, 91128. doi:10.1007/s10567-009-0063-2Google Scholar
Krueger, R. F., & Tackett, J. L. (2003). Personality and psychopathology: Working toward the bigger picture. Journal of Personality Disorders, 17, 109128. doi:10.1521/pedi.17.2.109.23986Google Scholar
Laursen, B., & Collins, A. W. (2009). Parent-adolescent relationships during adolescence. In Lerner, R. M. & Steinberg, L. (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 342). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Letcher, P., Sanson, A., Smart, D., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2012). Precursors and correlates of anxiety trajectories from late childhood to late adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41, 417432. doi:10.1080/15374416.2012.680189Google Scholar
Lonigan, C. J., Philips, B. M., Wilson, S. B., & Allan, N. P. (2011). Temperament and anxiety in children and adolescents. In Silverman, W. K. & Field, A. P. (Eds.), Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents (2nd ed., pp. 198226). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McLean, C. P., & Anderson, E. R. (2009). Brave men and timid women? A review of the gender differences in fear and anxiety. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 496505. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.05.003Google Scholar
Merikangas, K. R., He, J.-P., Burstein, M., Swanson, S. A., Avenevoli, S., Cui, L., … Swendsen, J. (2010). Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: Results from the national comorbidity survey replication-adolescent supplement (NCS-A). Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 49, 980989. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2010.05.017Google Scholar
Morin, A. J. S., Maïano, C., Nagengast, B., Marsh, H. W., Morizot, J., & Janosz, M. (2011). General growth mixture analysis of adolescents’ developmental trajectories of anxiety: The impact of untested invariance assumptions on substantive interpretations. Structural Equation Modeling, 18, 613648. doi:10.1080/10705511.2011.607714Google Scholar
Muris, P. (2006). The pathogenesis of childhood anxiety disorders: Considerations from a developmental psychopathology perspective. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30, 511. doi:10.1177/0165025406059967Google Scholar
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Ollendick, T., King, N., & Bogie, N. (2002). Three traditional and three new childhood anxiety questionnaires: Their reliability and validity in a normal adolescent sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 753772. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(01)00056-0Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2015). Mplus user's guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Nagin, D. S. (2005). Group based modeling of development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nelemans, S. A., Hale, W. W. III, Branje, S. J. T., Raaijmakers, Q. A. W., Frijns, T., Van Lier, P. A. C., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2014). Heterogeneity in development of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms in an 8-year longitudinal community study. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 181202. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000503Google Scholar
Oh, W., Rubin, K. H., Bowker, J. C., Booth-LaForce, C., Rose-Krasnor, L., & Laursen, B. (2008). Trajectories of social withdrawal from middle childhood to early adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 553566. doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9199-zGoogle Scholar
Olatunji, B. O., & Cole, D. A. (2009). The longitudinal structure of general and specific anxiety dimensions in children: Testing a latent trait-state-occasion model. Psychological Assessment, 21, 412424. doi:10.1037/a0016206Google Scholar
Petras, H., Masyn, K., & Ialongo, N. (2011). The developmental impact of two first grade preventive interventions on aggressive/disruptive behavior in childhood and adolescence: An application of latent transition growth mixture modeling. Prevention Science, 12, 300313. doi:10.1007/s11121-011-0216-7Google Scholar
Prenoveau, J. M., Craske, M. G., Zinbarg, R. E., Mineka, S., Rose, R. D., & Griffith, J. W. (2011). Are anxiety and depression just as stable as personality during late adolescence? Results from a three-year longitudinal latent variable study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 832843. doi:10.1037/a0023939Google Scholar
Prinzie, P., Van Harten, L. V., Deković, M., Van den Akker, A. L., & Shiner, R. L. (2014). Developmental trajectories of anxious and depressive problems during the transition from childhood to adolescence: Personality × Parenting interactions. Development and Psychopathology, 26, 10771092. doi:10.1017/S0954579414000510Google Scholar
Rapee, R. M. (2002). The development and modification of temperamental risk for anxiety disorders: Prevention of a lifetime of anxiety? Biological Psychiatry, 52, 947957. doi:10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01572-XGoogle Scholar
Reardon, L. E., Leen-Feldner, E. W., & Hayward, C. (2009). A critical review of the empirical literature on the relation between anxiety and puberty. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 123. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2008.09.005Google Scholar
Reinecke, J. (2006). Longitudinal analysis of adolescents’ deviant and delinquent behavior: Applications of latent class growth curves and growth mixture models. Methodology, 2, 100112. doi:10.1027/1614-2241.2.3.100Google Scholar
Reynolds, C. R., & Paget, K. D. (1981). Factor analysis of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale for Blacks, Whites, Males, and Females with a national normative sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 352359. doi:10.1037//0022-006X.49.3.352Google Scholar
Reynolds, C. R., & Richmond, B. O. (1979). Factor structure and construct validity of “what I think and feel”: The Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 43, 281283. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4303_9Google Scholar
Ridenour, T. A., Greenberg, M. T., & Cook, E. T. (2006). Structure and validity of people in my life: A self-report measure of attachment in late childhood. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 10371053. doi:10.1007/s10964-006-9070-5Google Scholar
Robinson, N. S., Garber, J., & Hilsman, R. (1995). Cognitions and stress: Direct and moderating effects on depressive versus externalizing symptoms during the junior high school transition. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 453463. doi:10.1037/0021-843x.104.3.453Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, J. F., Biederman, J., Bolduc-Murphy, E. A., Faraone, S. V., Chaloff, J., Hirshfeld, D. R., & Kagan, J. (1993). Behavioral inhibition in childhood: A risk factor for anxiety disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1, 216. doi:10.3109/10673229309017052Google Scholar
Rubin, K. H., & Burgess, K. B. (2001). Social withdrawal and anxiety. In Vasey, M. W. & Dadds, M. R. (Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety (pp. 407434). New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780195123630.003.0018Google Scholar
Rudolph, K. D., Troop-Gordon, W., Hessel, E. T., & Schmidt, J. D. (2011). A latent growth curve analysis of early and increasing peer victimization as predictors of mental health across elementary school. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40, 111122. doi:10.1080/15374416.2011.533413Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1996). Transitions and turning points in developmental psychopathology: As applied to the age span between childhood and mid-adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 19, 603626. doi:10.1177/016502549601900309Google Scholar
Seidman, E., & French, S. E. (2004). Developmental trajectories and ecological transitions: A two-step procedure to aid in the choice of prevention and promotion interventions. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 11411159. doi:10.1017/S0954579404040179Google Scholar
Seipp, B. (1991). Anxiety and academic performance: A meta-analysis of findings. Anxiety Research, 4, 2741. doi:10.1080/08917779108248762Google Scholar
Seligman, L. D., Ollendick, T. H., Langley, A. K., & Baldacci, H. B. (2004). The utility of measures of child and adolescent anxiety: A meta-analytic review of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, and the Child Behavior Checklist. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 557565. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp3303_13Google Scholar
Shell, M. D., Gazelle, H., & Faldowski, R. A. (2014). Anxious solitude and the middle school transition: A Diathesis × Stress model of peer exclusion and victimization trajectories. Developmental Psychology, 50, 15691583. doi:10.1037/a0035528Google Scholar
Simmons, R. G., & Blyth, D. A. (1987). Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school context. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Simmons, R., Burgeson, R., Carlton-Ford, S., & Blyth, D. (1987). The impact of cumulative change in early adolescence. Child Development, 58, 12201234. doi:10.2307/1130616Google Scholar
Snyder, J., Bullard, L., Wagener, A., Leong, P. K., Snyder, J., & Jenkins, M. (2009). Childhood anxiety and depressive symptoms: Trajectories, relationship, and association with subsequent depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 38, 837849. doi:10.1080/15374410903258959Google Scholar
Stallard, P., Velleman, R., Langsford, J., & Baldwin, S. (2001). Coping and psychological distress in children involved in road traffic accidents. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 40, 197208. doi:10.1348/014466501163643Google Scholar
Van Oort, F. V. A., Greaves-Lord, K., Verhulst, F. C., Ormel, J., & Huizink, A. C. (2009). The developmental course of anxiety symptoms during adolescence: The TRAILS study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 12091217. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02092.xGoogle Scholar
Varela, E. R., & Biggs, B. K. (2006). Reliability and validity of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) across samples of Mexican, Mexican American, and European American children: A preliminary investigation. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 19, 6780. doi:10.1080/10615800500499727Google Scholar
Vasey, M. W., & Dadds, M. R. (2001). An introduction to the developmental psychopathology of anxiety. In Vasey, M. W. & Dadds, M. R. (Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety (pp. 326). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Warren, S. L., & Sroufe, L. A. (2004). Developmental issues. In Ollendick, T. H. & March, J. S. (Eds.), Phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: A clinician's guide to effective psychosocial and pharmacological interventions (pp. 92115). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Waszczuk, M. A., Zavos, H. M. S., Gregory, A. M., & Eley, T. C. (2014). The phenotypic and genetic structure of depression and anxiety disorder symptoms in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. JAMA Psychiatry, 71, 905916. doi:10.1001/ jamapsychiatry.2014.655Google Scholar
Weems, C. F. (2008). Developmental trajectories of childhood anxiety: Identifying continuity and change in anxious emotion. Developmental Review, 28, 488502. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2008.01.001Google Scholar
Weems, C. F., & Costa, N. M. (2005). Developmental differences in the expression of childhood anxiety symptoms and fears. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 44, 656663. doi:10.1097/01.chi.0000162583.25829.4bGoogle Scholar
Westenberg, P. M., Siebelink, B. M., & Treffers, P. D. A. (2001). Psychosocial developmental theory in relation to anxiety and its disorders. In Silverman, W. K. & Treffers, P. D. A. (Eds.), Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: Research, assessment and intervention (pp. 7289). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Widiger, T. A., Verheul, R., & Van den Brink, W. (1999). Personality and psychopathology. In Pervin, L. A. & John, O. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar