Katsantonis Ioannis G
Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 8PQ, UK.
Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2024 Aug 18;14(8):2404-2416. doi: 10.3390/ejihpe14080159.
Children's mental health symptoms' development can be characterized by both continuity and discontinuity. However, existing studies ignore the potential discontinuity in children's internalizing symptoms' development. Hence, the current study examines continuous and discontinuous developmental trajectories using representative data from a sample of 2792 children (49.10% females) from the Growing Up in Australia cohort assessed seven times (ages 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16). Longitudinal measurement invariance analyses revealed that internalizing symptoms were comparable over time. Linear, quadratic, and piecewise latent growth curve models were deployed to estimate the trajectory of internalizing symptoms from early childhood to late adolescence. The analyses showed that internalizing symptoms were characterized by a quadratic-quadratic piecewise growth curve comprising two distinct phases of upward concave growth. Internalizing scores reduced steadily between ages 4 and 8 years but exhibited a slight upward curvature between ages 8 and 10 years. By age 14 years, the trajectory remained relatively stable but spiked between age 14 and 16 years. The two phases of internalizing symptoms' development were largely unrelated. Overall, the study adds to the knowledge about the development of internalizing mental health from early childhood to late adolescence and highlights the need for additional support in late adolescence.
儿童心理健康症状的发展具有连续性和非连续性的特点。然而，现有研究忽视了儿童内化症状发展中潜在的非连续性。因此，本研究使用来自澳大利亚成长队列中2792名儿童（49.10%为女性）的代表性数据，对连续性和非连续性发展轨迹进行了考察，这些儿童接受了七次评估（年龄分别为4岁、6岁、8岁、10岁、12岁、14岁、16岁）。纵向测量不变性分析表明，内化症状在不同时间具有可比性。采用线性、二次和分段潜在增长曲线模型来估计从幼儿期到青春期后期内化症状的轨迹。分析表明，内化症状的特征是二次-二次分段增长曲线，包括两个不同的向上凹形增长阶段。内化得分在4岁至8岁之间稳步下降，但在8岁至10岁之间呈现出轻微的向上弯曲。到14岁时，轨迹相对稳定，但在14岁至16岁之间出现峰值。内化症状发展的两个阶段在很大程度上是不相关的。总体而言，该研究增加了关于从幼儿期到青春期后期内化心理健康发展的知识，并强调了在青春期后期提供额外支持的必要性。
