This study explores patterns of self-regulation and emotional well-being among Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, employing a person-centered approach, responding to theoretical challenges articulated by Dante Cicchetti and other psychologists. Using latent profile analysis with data from 2,132 children, we identified seven distinct profiles across cognitive regulation, emotional-behavioral regulation, interpersonal regulation, and emotional well-being. These profiles showed significant heterogeneity in patterns of self-regulation across domains and emotional well-being among Syrian children. Some profiles consistently exhibited either positive (“Well-regulated and Adjusted”) or negative (“Moody and Frustrated”) functioning across all domains, while others revealed domain-specific challenges, e.g., particularly sensitive to interpersonal conflict. This heterogeneity in the organization of self-regulatory skill and emotional well-being challenges the traditional homogeneous view of child development in conflict settings. The study also underscores the profiles’ differential associations with demographic characteristics and experiences, with school-related experiences being particularly salient. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research in developmental psychopathology on self-regulation and emotional well-being in conflict-affected contexts. In addition, we advocate for tailored interventions to meet the diverse needs of children affected by conflict.

This study explores what kinds of moral potency profiles can be identified among three different samples: Top sports, Leaders, and Followers. Based on the social norm theory, we examine whether and how the experienced strength of ethical organizational culture is associated with the probability to be identified into different moral potency profiles. Based on ratings of 188 top sport representatives, 237 leaders and their 202 followers, a person-centered approach was used to identify three moral potency profiles: morally hesitant, moderate moral potency, and morally confident. A fourth profile was identified based on the followers’ evaluations of their leaders: morally void. Low evaluations of ethical culture increased the likelihood of being classified into the morally hesitant profile. As the followers were somewhat more critical in evaluating their leaders’ moral potency than the leaders themselves, our findings highlight the value of including other-rated indicators when examining moral actions within organizations.

This study applies a comprehensive bioecological perspective to address a significant gap in the childhood adversity literature by employing latent profile analysis to examine the impact of diverse combinations of early childhood adversities and protective factors on adolescent psychosocial and behavioral outcomes. Drawing from the United Kingdom’s Millennium Cohort Study (N = 19,444), we identified eight unique profiles of early childhood adversity and protective factors. These profiles provide a nuanced understanding of adversity combinations and allow for differentiation between groups with similar profiles. Latent profile membership was a significant predictor of all adolescent outcome variables, indicating that profiles differed significantly from one another on psychosocial and behavioral outcomes (Wald values ranged from 10.10–623.22; p < .001). Some findings support the cumulative risk model, indicating that exposure to multiple early adversities increases the likelihood of adverse outcomes. However, we also found that specific adversities, such as parental psychopathology, parental alcohol use, and neighborhood deprivation, uniquely impact adolescent outcomes. This study highlights the necessity for tailored interventions and policies to support children with distinct early life experiences, emphasizing the importance of addressing both cumulative and specific adversities at multiple levels to prevent psychosocial and behavioral problems in adolescence.

Research links life stressors, including acute, chronic, and early life stress, to the development of ruminative brooding. However, singular forms of life stress rarely occur in isolation, as adolescents typically encounter stressors that vary on important dimensions (e.g., types, timings, quantities) across development. The current study employs latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify natural clusters of life stress that, over time, may be differently associated with ruminative brooding. Evaluations of episodic, chronic, and early life stress were conducted with community-recruited mid-adolescents (N = 241, Mage = 15.90 years, 53% female) and their parents using the UCLA Life Stress Interview and lifetime adversity portions of the Youth Life Stress Interview. Analyses identified four distinct patterns: low stress, high peer stress, moderate home / family stress, and multifaceted / high school stress. Adolescents in the high peer stress and moderate home / family stress profiles were at highest risk for developing a brooding style over time. Despite high overall levels of stress, teens in the multifaceted / high school stress profile were at not at elevated risk for developing a brooding style. Findings demonstrate the utility of person-centered approaches to identify patterns of stress exposure that heighten risk for brooding over time.

Recent studies suggest that heterogeneous bilingual experiences implicate different executive functions (EF) in children. Using a latent profile analysis, we conducted a more nuanced investigation of multifaceted bilingual experiences. By concurrently considering numerous bilingual indicators – age of L1 and L2 acquisition, interactional contexts of verbal exchanges, L1 and L2 proficiency, balance of language use at home and school, and receptive vocabulary – we identified three latent profiles (subgroups): balanced dual-language, dominant single-language, and mixed-interaction. We found that the balanced dual-language and dominant single-language profiles predicted significantly better switching than the mixed-interaction profile. However, no profile differences were found in working memory, prepotent response inhibition, or inhibitory control. These results held true when multiple covariates (age, sex, household income, and nonverbal intelligence) were controlled for. Using a person-centered approach, our study underscores that disparate bilingual experiences asymmetrically predict the shifting facet of EF during early childhood.

This study examined co-occurring patterns of mental health among disaster victims using latent profile analysis and assessed the difference between sociodemographic factors and protective factors that affect group classification. The data of 2300 disaster victims from 2019 (4th wave) NDMI (National Disaster Management Research Institute) for Long-term Survey on the Change of Life of Disaster Victims were analyzed. The latent profile analysis revealed that three profiles; High comorbid symptom (HCS) (6.2%), Medium comorbid symptom (MCS) (22.6%), and Low symptom (LS) (71.2%). The factors that explain the difference in this divided profile group were the type of disaster, hurt, income, age, elapsed years, resilience, and community resilience in the multinomial logistic regression. When individual resilience and community resilience are high, more effective in making people belong to the low comorbid symptom group. Therefore, there is a need for a strategy that promotes synergy between the two relationships while maintaining a dual focus point of view that fosters resilience at the individual and community level together.

Adolescence is a significant period for the formation of relationship networks and the development of internalizing problems. With a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 3,834, 52.01% girls, Mage = 16.68 at Wave 1), the present study aimed to identify the configuration of adolescents’ relationship qualities from four important domains (i.e., relationship quality with mother, father, peers, and teachers) and how distinct profiles were associated with the development of internalizing problems (indicated by depressive and anxiety symptoms) across high school years. Latent profile analysis identified a five-profile configuration with four convergent profiles (i.e., relationship qualities with others were generally good or bad) and one “Father estrangement” profile (i.e., the relationship quality with others were relatively good but that with father was particularly poor). Further conditional latent growth curve analysis indicated the “Father estrangement” profile was especially vulnerable to an increase in the internalizing problems as compared with other relationship profiles. This study contributes to understanding the characteristics of interpersonal relationship qualities and their influences on adolescent internalizing problems in a non-Western context. Results were further discussed from a culturally specific perspective.

Loneliness, a negative emotion stemming from the perception of unmet social needs, is a major public health concern. Current interventions often target social domains but produce small effects and are not as effective as established emotion regulation (ER)-based interventions for general psychological distress (i.e., depression/anxiety). Given that loneliness and distress are types of negative affect, we aimed to compare them within an ER framework by examining the amount of variance ER strategies accounted for in loneliness versus distress, and comparing the ER strategy profiles characterising them. Participants (N = 582, Mage = 22.31, 77.66% female) completed self-report measures of loneliness, distress, and use of 12 cognitive (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) or behavioural (e.g., expressive suppression) ER strategies. Regression analyses revealed that ER explained comparable variance in these constructs. Latent profile analysis identified seven profiles differing in ER patterns, with no distinct loneliness or distress profile identified. Rather, similar patterns of ER characterised these two constructs, involving the greater use of generally maladaptive strategies and the lesser use of generally adaptive strategies. However, loneliness was additionally characterised by less use of strategies involving social connection/expression. Overall, our study supports the utility of ER for understanding loneliness. Established ER-based frameworks/interventions for distress may have transdiagnostic utility in targeting loneliness.

Children with aggressive behavior problems may aggress for different reasons, requiring tailored assessment and treatment. The aim of this study was to test whether it is possible to detect distinct social information processing (SIP) profiles among boys with aggressive behavior problems. We therefore conducted Latent Profile Analyses on boys’ SIP patterns assessed in interactive virtual reality. Additionally, we examined the discriminant validity of these SIP profiles by comparing them on theoretically relevant child characteristics (i.e., temperament, executive functioning, aggressive belief systems, punishment insensitivity, sensation seeking). We presented boys (N = 181; ages 7–13) with a virtual classroom where they could play games with virtual peers. They reported on their SIP in four virtual reality scenarios, designed to assess reactive and proactive aggressive SIP. Results revealed four distinct SIP profiles: a general reactive SIP profile, a situation-specific reactive SIP profile, a mixed reactive-proactive SIP profile, and a nonaggressive SIP profile. Planned contrasts revealed that boys with these SIP profiles differed in temperament, aggressive belief systems, and punishment insensitivity, but not in executive functioning and sensation seeking. Overall, findings suggest that boys differ in the exact SIP patterns underlying their aggressive behavior, providing inroads to tailor interventions to children’s individual needs.

Given the high burden of child maltreatment, there is an urgent need to know more about resilient functioning among those who have experienced maltreatment. The aims of the study were to: 1) identify distinct profiles of resilience across cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social domains in young children involved in the child welfare system; and 2) examine maltreatment characteristics and family protective factors in relation to the identified resilience profiles. A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW-II). Latent profile analysis was performed on a sample of 827 children aged 3–5 years (46% girls, Mean age = 3.96). Three distinct resilience profiles were identified: 1) low cognitive resilience (24%); 2) low emotional and behavioral resilience (20%); and 3) multidomain resilience (56%). Caregiver cognitive stimulation, no out-of-home placement, higher caregiver education level, older child age, and being a girl were associated with the multidomain resilience profile. The findings provide empirical support for the multifaceted nature of resilience and suggest that practitioners need to help children achieve optimal and balanced development by assessing, identifying, and targeting those domains in which children struggle to obtain competence.

Adolescent e-cigarette use has been labeled an epidemic and alcohol use during this developmental period is associated with deleterious outcomes. Though specific temperamental dimensions have been shown to predict substance use, profiles of temperament have rarely been examined as predictors. This study examines dimensions and profiles of adolescent temperament as predictors of early use of e-cigarettes and alcohol. The sample was comprised of adolescent (62.07% female, 87.59% White, 82.76% Hispanic/Latinx)/caregiver dyads (N = 146) who completed the first two timepoints (M age at second timepoint = 16.16, SD = 0.68) of a longitudinal adolescent substance use study. Models showed parent-reported effortful control predicted protection against adolescent use of e-cigarettes, whereas adolescent report of effortful control predicted protection against alcohol use. Though dissimilar in temperamental pattern, three profiles emerged from both parent- and adolescent-report-based latent profile analysis models. Adolescents characterized by parents as displaying a Resilient profile had greater odds of e-cigarette use than those characterized by a Reserved profile, whereas adolescents who self-characterized as Mixed-type had markedly greater odds of alcohol use than those who self-characterized as Resilient. Utilization of temperamental profiles may aid in identification of particularly vulnerable subgroups of adolescents who may benefit from relevant preventative programing.

Although there is strong evidence supporting the association between childhood adversity and symptomatology during adolescence, the extent to which adolescents present with distinct patterns of co-occurring post-traumatic stress (PTS) and externalizing symptoms remains unclear. Additionally, prior research suggests that experiencing nonviolent, negative life events may be more salient risk factors for developing some forms of psychopathology than exposure to violence. The current study used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of early adolescents with distinct patterns of PTS, physical aggression, delinquency, and substance use, and examined subgroup differences in exposure to three forms of violent and nonviolent childhood adversity. Participants were a predominantly low-income, African American sample of 2,722 urban middle school students (M age = 12.9, 51% female). We identified four symptom profiles: low symptoms (83%), some externalizing (8%), high PTS (6%), and co-occurring PTS and externalizing symptoms (3%). A higher frequency of witnessing violence was associated with increased odds of membership in subgroups with externalizing symptoms, whereas a higher frequency of nonviolent, negative life events was associated with increased odds of membership in subgroups with PTS symptoms. Interventions aimed to address childhood adversity may be most effective when modules addressing both PTS and externalizing symptoms are incorporated.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is heterogeneous and likely entails distinct phenotypes with varying etiologies. Identifying these subgroups may contribute to hypotheses about differential treatment responses. The present study aimed to discern subgroups among children with ASD and anxiety in context of the five-factor model of personality (FFM) and evaluate treatment response differences to two cognitive-behavioral therapy treatments. The present study is a secondary data analysis of children with ASD and anxiety (N=202; ages 7–13; 20.8% female) in a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) randomized controlled trial (Wood et al., 2020). Subgroups were identified via latent profile analysis of parent-reported FFM data. Treatment groups included standard-of-practice CBT (CC), designed for children with anxiety, and adapted CBT (BIACA), designed for children with ASD and comorbid anxiety. Five subgroups with distinct profiles were extracted. Analysis of covariance revealed CBT response was contingent on subgroup membership. Two subgroups responded better to BIACA on the primary outcome measure and a third responded better to BIACA on a peer-social adaptation measure, while a fourth subgroup responded better to CC on a school-related adaptation measure. These findings suggest that the FFM may be useful in empirically identifying subgroups of children with ASD, which could inform intervention selection decisions for children with ASD and anxiety.

Conduct problems are associated with numerous negative long-term psychosocial sequelae and are among the most frequent referrals for children's mental health services. Youth residing in low-income, urban communities are at increased risk for conduct problems, but not all youth in these environments develop conduct problems, suggesting heterogeneity in risk and resilience processes and developmental pathways. The present study used a developmental psychopathology- and Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)-informed approach for conceptualizing risk and resilience for conduct problems among children from low-income, urban neighborhoods. Participants were 104 children (M = 9.93 ± 1.22 years; 50% male; 96% African American, 4% Latinx). We assessed four constructs reflecting cognitive and neurobiological processes associated with conduct problems using multiple levels of analysis and informants: autonomic nervous system reactivity, limbic system/orbitofrontal cortical functioning, dorsolateral prefrontal cortical functioning, and conduct problems. Latent profile analysis identified four profiles: typically developing (TD, n = 34); teacher-reported conduct problems (TCP, n = 14); emotion processing (EP, n = 27); and emotion expression recognition (EER, n = 29). External validation analyses demonstrated that profiles differed on various indices of conduct problems in expected ways. The EP profile exhibited lower levels of emotional lability and callous–unemotional behaviors, and higher levels of prosocial behavior. The TD profile demonstrated elevated emotional lability. Implications for etiological and intervention models are presented.