Change in ego development, coping, and symptomatology from adolescence to emerging adulthood

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 41 (2015) 110–119

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Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Change in ego development, coping, and symptomatology from adolescence to emerging adulthood Moin Syed a, Inge Seiffge-Krenke b a b

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, United States University of Mainz, Germany

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history: Received 23 July 2014 Received in revised form 14 September 2015 Accepted 15 September 2015 Available online 29 October 2015 Keywords: Externalizing Internalizing Ego development Coping behavior

a b s t r a c t In a 10-year longitudinal study, the developmental course of internalizing and externalizing symptoms was investigated in a group of 98 individuals who exhibited different ego development trajectories from adolescence into emerging adulthood. This study explored whether an increase or a decrease in psychopathological symptomatology was associated with different ego development progressions in conjunction with the use of certain coping behaviors. In general, the study revealed that increases in ego development and the use of adaptive coping behavior were associated with a decrease in symptomatology over time. Ego developmental trajectories with a very steep progression were linked with maladaptive coping and resulted in more internalizing and externalizing symptoms and less marked decrease in externalizing symptoms over time. Consequently, approaches to understanding and explaining psychopathology in the transition period should focus on individuals' self-perceived developmental speeds in psychosocial maturity in order to explain different outcomes in psychopathology. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is one of the most critical normative life transitions because it typically challenges young people to cope with sweeping contextual and social changes (Arnett, 2004). The transition involves stressors that can contribute to the manifestation of psychopathology that may exist at subthreshold levels during adolescence. However, research findings have shown that psychopathological symptoms decrease after adolescence, which suggests that some adolescents cope well and become well-functioning young adults (Schulenberg, Bryant, & O'Malley, 2004). Understanding what contributes to such healthy psychosocial growth is a particularly salient issue in examining the transition to adulthood. In our research, Loevinger's (1976) theoretical approach served as a framework for integrating aspects of psychosocial maturity and agency, and, more importantly, individual differences during the transition process. Loevinger conceptualized the ego as the primary synthesizing and regulating agent for an individual's development. Accordingly, ego development fundamentally corresponds to individuals' mastery of their selves and social contexts (Thorne, 1993). Research has suggested that ego development progresses substantially during the transition to adulthood, but there is also high variability at each level with respect to timing and extent (Westenberg & Gjerde, 1999). In the light of the differential timing of the transition to adulthood that leads to high diversity in individual trajectories (Arnett, 2006), the purpose of our study was to explore whether developmental progression as operationalized according to individual ego developmental trajectories, E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Syed), [email protected] (I. SeiffgeKrenke).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2015.09.003 0193-3973/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

influences the course of psychopathology from adolescence to emerging adulthood. It is also important to examine how young people cope with stress, as the strategies used can potentially impact current and future psychopathology (Sameroff, 2000). In our study we explored whether an adaptive or maladaptive coping style contributes to the developmental course of psychopathology above and beyond individual variations in ego development. We also examined gender differences in this process, thereby acknowledging gender-specific patterns in symptomatology, coping behavior, and ego development. Increase or decrease in psychopathology during the transition period? The abundance of major life changes and uncertainty occurring during emerging adulthood have been suggested to be responsible for the poor mental health observed among emerging adults in many countries, for example, in Australia (Lee & Gramotnev, 2007), the US (Arnett, 2005; Monahan, Steinberg, Cauffman, & Mulvey, 2009; Schulenberg, Sameroff, & Cicchetti, 2004), and in Europe (Aebi, Giger, Plattner, Winkler Metzge, & Steinhausen, in press; Hofstra, van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2001). The onset of depression and other internalizing symptoms, which peaks during late adolescence and emerging adulthood (Kim, Capaldi, & Stoolmiller, 2003; Smith & Betz, 2002), has been frequently linked to the transitions involved in beginning college studies (Azmitia, Syed, & Radmacher, 2013; Dyson & Renk, 2006), leaving home (Scharf, Mayseless, & Kivenson-Baron, 2004; Seiffge-Krenke, 2006), and establishing more committed romantic relationships

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(Seiffge-Krenke, 2013; Tuval-Mashiach & Shulman, 2006). Similarly, externalizing behaviors such as substance use (Raskin White et al., 2006), conduct disorders (Sameroff, Peck, & Eccles, 2004), and delinquency (Arnett, 2005) increase during this time. Some studies covering time spans from several to over ten years have reported continuity in psychopathology, both for internalizing and externalizing symptoms (e.g., Hofstra et al., 2001). Adolescents with high levels of externalizing scores often showed high levels of problems in adulthood. Similarly, adolescents with high levels in internalizing symptoms such as depression and anxiety were more likely to meet the DSM-IV criteria for these same disorders in adulthood. In their 12-year longitudinal study, Monahan et al. (2009) analyzed trajectories of antisocial behavior from adolescence to emerging adulthood and found a subgroup of individuals that persisted in showing antisocial behavior throughout this time span. Similar to Aebi et al. (in press), they found that deficits in impulse control and high rates of dysfunctional coping, such as avoidance and withdrawal, contributed to problematic outcomes in emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood has been described as a period during which the incidence of risk behaviors and mental health problems is relatively high (Kessler et al., 2010), but also as a window of opportunity for positive change in life course trajectories of mental health (O'Connor et al., 2011). Most young people mature out of their substance use when they begin to enter adulthood (Schulenberg, Bryant, et al., 2004). Similarly, although the majority of youth engage in some form of delinquent behavior, most do not continue, largely due to supportive social relationships during the transition period (Belsky, Jaffee, Caspi, Moffitt, & Silva, 2003). Other research findings have highlighted how most young people demonstrate positive development, experience heightened well-being (Schulenberg & Zarrett, 2006), and report low depression and anxiety (Schulenberg, Bryant, et al., 2004), with high psychosocial maturity and adaptive coping strategies being predictors of positive outcomes. Altogether, however, research on the developmental course during the transition period is inconclusive. Our longitudinal study set out to explore some of the variables which might explain continuity or discontinuity in psychopathology from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Ego development trajectories Loevinger (1976) conceptualized the ego as a unifying frame of reference that underlines all thoughts and actions and ego development as the process of gaining psychological maturity. Viewed as a “master trait,” ego development encompasses changes in impulse control and character, interpersonal relations, conscious concerns, and cognitive style. Her model includes nine qualitatively distinct milestones of development, each representing increasingly mature organizations of the self and social contexts: Presocial, Impulsive, Self-Protective, Conformist, Self-Aware, Conscientious, Individualistic, Autonomous, and Integrated. The levels are also quantitative in that each successive level is considered to be more sophisticated and adaptive than the previous one. Thus, the levels describe an increasingly complex view of the interaction between self and society (Hy & Loevinger, 1996). Research on ego development has supported the developmental nature of the construct. Most studies indicate that ego stage consistently advances during childhood and adolescence and tends to stabilize in young adulthood at the Self-Aware level (Cohn, 1998). Cohn's (1998) meta-analyses comparing longitudinal studies in adolescence with longitudinal studies in emerging adulthood provided evidence of more substantial development during adolescence than during emerging adulthood. However, few studies to date have investigated how ego development changes across the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood by following both developmentally distinct phases in the same sample. To our knowledge, only one study (Westenberg & Gjerde, 1999) covered nearly the same lifespan period (14–23 years) as in our current study (14–24 years), but refers to a quite old data set which

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might not capture recent challenges typical for emerging adults nowadays (Seiffge-Krenke & Haid, 2012). In this earlier study, and consistent with prior work (e.g., Gfellner, 1986), Westenberg and Gjerde found that level 5 (Self-Aware) served as an important developmental marker after which progress tended to decelerate. In addition, they found that variability in ego development levels was greater at age 23 compared to age 14, suggesting heterogeneity in ego development across the transition to adulthood. Already in studies conducted by Stuart Hauser's research group on a sample followed for two years, adolescents showed different progression in ego development (Hauser, Borman, Jacobson, Powers, & Noam, 1991). The stable moderate trajectory was the most common among healthy adolescents, whereas profound arrest was found only in clinical samples. Later empirical research on how ego development changes over time (Billings, Hauser, & Allen, 2008; Hennighausen, Hauser, Billings, Schultz, & Allen, 2004) revealed five types of ego development trajectories, three of which represent stability (stable high, moderate, and low) and two that represent change (increase and fluctuating). However, these studies were based on adolescent samples. Thus, it remained unclear how variability in individual trajectories of ego development unfolds during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. The current study built on earlier work on the same sample in which we investigated the variability in individual trajectories of ego development from ages 14 to 24 years (Syed & Seiffge-Krenke, 2013). In this study, we identified via latent class growth analyses four distinct trajectories of growth in ego development over the 10-year period. The normative stable trajectory was marked by moderate initial growth during adolescence followed by deceleration into adulthood. The moderate progression trajectory showed steady increases in ego development across the 10 years, and the rapid progression trajectory showed high initial increases during adolescence followed by a decelerated but still increasing growth. A fourth group, the stable low trajectory, included individuals whose ego development showed hardly any progression over the 10 years. Similar to the studies by Billings et al. (2008) and Hennighausen et al. (2004) we found both stable trajectories and those that represent change. Further, and in accordance with Novy (1993), our earlier findings seem to suggest that advances are greater during adolescence and that progression slows down in the following years. However, it is yet unclear how these trajectories, representing different developmental progression during the transition period, are linked with the developmental course of psychopathology during this same time span. Coping behavior during the transition Emerging adulthood has been frequently described as a time of stress (Arnett, 2004). In the course of life exploration, emerging adults frequently change directions. This instability is reflected in romantic break-ups and changes in residence, education, and jobs. By coping adaptively with the new challenges, emerging adults are able to more easily adapt to the various stressors, which may, in the long run, contribute to a decrease in psychopathology. Coping has been defined as an active, purposeful process of responding to stimuli appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the individual (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), and includes behavioral, emotional, and cognitive attempts to manage the demands imposed by such stressors (Lazarus, 1998). Problem-focused or approach-oriented coping involves attempts to directly address the stressor, for example, by seeking support from others (Lazarus, 1998; Seiffge-Krenke, 1995). Cognitivefocused coping involves conscious reflection about the problem and how to resolve it (Garnefski, Legerstee, Kraaij, van der Kommer, & Teerds, 2002; Seiffge-Krenke, 1995). Emotion-focused coping is characterized by attempts to regulate emotions or decrease emotional distress (e.g., by avoidance, minimization, distancing, or withdrawal; Lazarus, 1993; Seiffge-Krenke & Klessinger, 2000).

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In the last two decades, research on coping in adolescence has burgeoned (Compas, Connor-Smith, Saltzman, Harding Thomsen, & Wadsworth, 2001; Seiffge-Krenke, 2011). One important and consistent finding has been that active, approach-oriented coping styles are etiologically significant for understanding the trajectories of adolescent development that lead either to positive adaptation or result in psychopathology. Longitudinal studies have shown that coping styles that involve a tendency to avoid or ignore the stressor are associated with psychopathology (Herman-Stahl, Stemmler, & Petersen, 1995). In particular, a long-term effect of withdrawal and avoidant coping on adolescents' depressive symptoms is well established (Seiffge-Krenke & Klessinger, 2000). Similarly, avoidant coping has been found to represent a significant risk factor for the persistence of delinquent behavior in emerging adulthood (Aebi et al., in press). The coping styles that evolve during emerging adulthood are built on earlier experiences and influence how an individual will deal with new stressors occurring in the transition period. Although there is abundant literature on the stressfulness of the transition period (Arnett, 2004; Scharf, Mayseless, & Kivenson-Baron, 2011; Seiffge-Krenke, 2011), little work has specifically focused on coping with stress during emerging adulthood. This is surprising, because obvious changes in most domains are typical for this transition period. During emerging adulthood, and in the course of changing functions and significance of close relationships, young people often experience interpersonal conflicts with their partners that may involve break-ups and reconciliation (Halper-Meekin, Manning, Gordano, & Longmore, 2012). Changes in educational or employment status (Krahn, Howard, & Galambos, 2012) are also quite stressful, and coping competence is required to thwart an increase in psychopathology. Thus, in our study we considered what role coping behaviors may play in the developmental course of psychopathology via ego development trajectories. Gender, ego development, coping, and symptomatology In exploring different trajectories, we need to acknowledge the strong gender differences. Compared to males, females show more active coping in dealing with stressors in the transition period (Seiffge-Krenke, 2011; Tamres, Janicki, & Helgeson, 2002). Females also score higher in symptomatology, particularly in internalizing symptoms during adolescence and in emerging adulthood (Hofstra et al., 2001). Further, research on ego development has found strong gender differences, with females showing more rapid ego development (Cohn, 1991; Gfellner, 1986). We therefore decided to include gender as a covariate in the analyses. The present study The developmental precursors of psychopathology during emerging adulthood have been poorly understood. In particular, the contributions of adaptational processes in earlier transitional periods, such as in adolescence, needs exploration. The purpose of the present study was to examine the developmental course of psychopathology among a non-clinical sample, and the associated impact of ego development and coping strategies. We conducted this study on young people in Germany who were followed over 10 years during the critical period of adolescence until emerging adulthood. Similar to studies in North America, emerging adults in Germany leave home late (SeiffgeKrenke, 2006), start their career, and establish firm partnerships in their mid-twenties and showed high diversity in reaching adult markers around the age of 30 (Seiffge-Krenke & Luyckx, 2014). Young Germans have difficulties in balancing the often conflicting challenges and demands (Luyckx, Seiffge-Krenke, Schwartz, Crocetti, & Klimstra, 2014), and experience this period as quite stressful (Seiffge-Krenke & Haid, 2012). German nationwide surveys have established increases in prevalence rates of overall symptomatology between the ages of 18 to 30, in which these challenges are mirrored (Lambert et al., 2013).

Similar to research on North American samples, German studies on normative samples are lacking that link the developmental courses of ego-development, coping and psychopathology. Four main research questions and hypotheses guided our study: 1) What is the developmental course of internalizing and externalizing symptoms? Based on past research we hypothesized that externalizing symptoms would decrease in a linear fashion, but due to conflicting results, treated the change in internalizing symptoms as exploratory. 2) Are different trajectories of ego development from adolescence to emerging adulthood found in our earlier research on the same sample (Syed & Seiffge-Krenke, 2013) related to the developmental course of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology? We expected that ego development trajectories with a moderate progression would be associated with a decline in symptomatology, especially with respect to internalizing symptoms. In contrast, we expected that a low stable ego development or rapid progression would be linked to an increase in both types of symptomatology, but especially with respect to externalizing symptoms. 3) How are coping strategies related to symptom trajectories? Earlier studies have shown that the long-term application of withdrawal in stressful encounters may be detrimental for health (Seiffge-Krenke, 2011). Further, dysfunctional coping strategies (e.g., avoidance or withdrawal) may overwhelm individuals already compromised by a low ego development. We therefore expected that participants with a low level of ego development or failing to progress from a low level of ego development and, further, who showed a continuous use of withdrawal coping, would show an increase in symptomatology. 4) Females would be overrepresented in showing trajectories with a strong or moderate ego developmental progression. We left as exploratory whether or not gender would be related to increase or decreases in symptomatology over time. Method Participants Participants were recruited from the German Longitudinal Study (Seiffge-Krenke, 2003), which received full approval from the institutional review board at the University of Mainz, Germany. The participants were recruited from 7th-grade classes in German schools. Of all adolescents targeted, 88% agreed to participate. Participation in the longitudinal study was contingent on receiving informed consent from the potential participants' parents. The original sample for the project was selected according to socioeconomic background, parents' marital status, parents' and adolescents' educational levels, and the number of children in the family (German Federal Bureau of Statistics, 2000) and included a total of 145 participants. For this study, we drew a subsample of 98 participants with complete data sets for over 10 years (68% of the original sample). Comparisons between the subsample and the full sample did not reveal any significant differences in demographics or study variables. Assessments were made in a total of five waves with varying intervals, at participants' ages 13, 14, 15, 17, and 24 years. Eighty-one percent of the participants were raised in two-parent families, and 19% were raised in single-parent or divorced families. An average of 1.4 children was present in each family. The mean level of education for participants' fathers was 11.1 years (SD = 2.4); all fathers and 62% of the mothers were employed. Participants came from broad socioeconomic strata; 52% of the families were middle-class, based on the profession and salary of fathers. All of the participants resided in western Germany, and 92% were of German descent. At T1 (Mage = 14.7 years; SD = 1.38), 51% of the participants were female, 48% were male, and all were attending seventh grade in secondary schools. At T5 (Mage = 24.8 years, SD = 1.23), all participants (52% females) had

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finished their secondary school education; 33% percent were employed, 31% were studying, 22% were enrolled in vocational training, and a further 14% were homemakers or unemployed. At age 24, only 15% of the participants were still residing with their parents. As in most longitudinal studies, data were missing at different time points. Careful analyses showed that missing data (7%) were not related to age, gender, parents' marital status, family's socioeconomic status (SES), or type of school the participant attended. To minimize the bias associated with this occasional attrition, we used expectation maximization algorithms to impute missing data. Little's (1988) Missing Completely at Random Test indicated that missing values could be reliably estimated. Measures Internalizing and externalizing symptoms Participants completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR; Achenbach, 1991) at ages 13, 14, 15, and 17 years. The YSR consists of 103 problem items that tap multiple symptoms, to be rated according to a 3-point Likert scale (0 = not true, 1 = somewhat or sometimes true, and 2 = often or very often true). The symptoms can be assigned to one of two overarching dimensions: A broadband internalizing dimension (tapping subscales like anxiety and depression) and a broadband externalizing dimension (tapping subscales such as delinquency or antisocial behavior). Cronbach's alphas across the adolescent years for internalizing symptoms ranged from .82 to .88, and for externalizing symptoms from 84 to .89. At age 24, the participants completed the Young Adult Self-report (YASR 18–30, Achenbach, 1997). The YASR consists of 110 problem items to be rated according to a 3-point Likert scale (0 = not true, 1 = somewhat or sometimes true, and 2 = often or very often true), which, similar to the adolescent version, can be assigned to either an overarching broadband internalizing dimension or a broadband externalizing dimension. Cronbach's alpha at age 24 years was .80 for internalizing symptoms and .83 for externalizing symptoms.

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relationships, self, future, teachers, and school). At Wave 5, the young adult version (covering seven domains: Parents, peers, leisure time, romantic relationships, self, future, and studies/vocation) was applied. The participants were requested to mark all the coping strategies they used when a stressor in one of the domains occurred. The coping strategies in each domain could be assigned to one of three coping scales: (a) Active coping (7 items; sample item: “I discuss the problem with the person concerned”), including coping strategies such as talking about the problem with the person concerned or seeking information, advice, or emotional assistance from formal (e.g., counseling centers) or informal support systems (e.g., parents and friends), (b) internal coping (6 items; sample item: “I reflect about different solutions”), including coping strategies involving cognitive processes oriented towards seeking a solution, recognizing one's own limitations, or the willingness to accept compromises, and (c) withdrawal coping (7 items; sample item “I withdraw because I cannot change anything anyway”), including efforts to withdraw from the stressor or avoid the problem as well as behaviors intended to reduce emotional tension (e.g., by screaming or slamming doors). The internal consistencies (alphas) for the three scales, summed across the domains, were .79, .83 and .80, respectively for the adolescent version and .82, .84 and .81, respectively, for the young adult version.

Procedure The longitudinal study spanned a period of ten years and consisted of five surveys. For Waves 1 to 4, the participants completed the YSR and the CASQ. At Waves 2 to 4 ego development of the participants was assessed via the WUST. At emerging adulthood, Wave 5, the participants completed the young adult versions of the respective measures (WUST, YASR, and the young adult version of the CASQ).

Plan of analyses Ego development The Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT, Hy & Loevinger, 1996) was employed at Waves 2, 3, 4 (adolescent version; Form 2–77), and 5 (adult version; Form 81), using gender-specific versions for males and females. Altogether, 36 incomplete sentences (e.g., “When I am criticized…,” or “Men are…”) had to be completed. Responses to sentence stems were coded by two raters using Hy and Loevinger's (1996) scoring manual, which allows answers to be associated with the ego development stages outlined in Loevinger's (1985) model of ego development (pre-social, impulsive, self-protective, conformist, self-aware, conscientious, individualistic, autonomous, and integrated). Answers were completely transcribed, made anonymous, and randomly assigned to the two independent raters. Kappas ranged from .63 to .83 for the individual items across 30 randomly selected protocols. A third rater provided the consensus scoring in case of disagreement. Furthermore, in line with Hy and Loevinger (1996), the total protocol rating (TPR), which is based on the cumulative frequency distribution of the item ratings, was calculated for each participant. Higher TPR scores indicate more advanced ego development. For the present analyses, the TPR ratings of the participants from Waves 2, 3, 4, and 5 were used. The 36 items in the TPR had internal consistencies (Cronbach's alpha) of .75 (adolescent version) and .78 (adult version). Coping behavior We assessed the coping behavior of the participants during their adolescent years and as young adults with the Coping Across Situations Questionnaire (CASQ, Seiffge-Krenke, 1995). This instrument consists of a matrix of everyday stressors stemming from several domains and 20 coping strategies. For Waves 1, 2, 3, and 4 we applied the adolescent version (covering eight domains: Parents, peers, leisure time, romantic

At the outset, mean, standard deviations, and the intercorrelations of all study variables were examined. We then conducted two sets of latent growth curve models, one for internalizing symptoms and one for externalizing symptoms. The analytic procedure was identical for both. First, we conducted unconditional growth models, comparing the relative fit of linear and quadratic growth models. Once the optimal growth model was determined, we added gender and ego development trajectory class as time-invariant predictors of the intercept and slope factors, predicting initial levels and change over time in internalizing and externalizing symptoms, respectively. In a third step, we added the three types of coping as time-varying covariates. As has been highlighted by numerous methodologists (Enders & Tofighi, 2007; Hedeker, 2004; Singer & Willett, 2003), time-varying covariates consist of both between-person and within-person components. Decomposing time-varying covariates allows for the separation of stable individual differences (between-person) and time-specific relations (within-person). The between-person component was calculated as the personlevel average, collapsed across waves (i.e., an individual's mean across time) and thus was a time-invariant predictor. The within-person component was calculated as each participant's time-specific score, minus his or her person-level average. Calculating the within-person component in this way allowed us to assess the relations between coping and symptoms within individuals, and thus addresses the limitations of the ecological fallacy, wherein group-level associations are inappropriately applied to particular individuals (Curran & Bauer, 2011). We disaggregated the between-person and within-person not because we had specific hypotheses about how the patterns of associations may differ, but rather because doing so provides more accurate estimates of the association compared to aggregated time-varying covariates.

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Trajectories of internalizing symptoms: Developmental course and predictors

Results Preliminary analysis Descriptive statistics for all study variables over time are reported in Table 1. The bivariate correlations for participants' ego development revealed modest relations between adjacent time points (rs = .42 to .54). The correlations between ego development and our other study variables showed small to moderate correlations with active coping (rs = .04 to .27), minimal to moderate correlations with internal coping (rs = .01 to .28), minimal to small correlations with withdrawal coping (rs = .01 to .17), small to moderate correlations with internalizing symptoms (rs = .10 to .31), and minimal to moderate correlations with externalizing symptoms (rs = .02 to .26). As to be expected, correlations between distal time points tended to have smaller values, whereas correlations between proximal time points tended to have larger values. Regarding participants' ego development, the averages for Times 2 and 3 were close to the conformist stage. The average at Time 4 corresponded to the self-aware stage, and the average at Time 5 was between self-aware and the conscientious stage. Thus, on average, the participants in the sample gained 1.12 steps in ego development across the 10 years, reflecting similar patterns reported in previous research (Westenberg & Gjerde, 1999). Although the main focus of the analyses was on growth of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, for our preliminary analyses we first conducted unconditional growth models of the three types of coping. All three coping strategies demonstrated quadratic change over time. Active coping (b = .53, p b .001) and internal coping (b = .81, p b .001) both showed sharp increases during adolescence, followed by deceleration into emerging adulthood (b = −.07, p b .001 and b = −.13, p b .001, respectively). Withdrawal coping showed a similar, yet less dramatic pattern, with minor increases in adolescence (b = .14, p b .05), followed by a decrease in emerging adulthood (b = −.03, p b .001). The main focus of this study was to explore how the developmental course of psychopathology (with respect to internalizing and externalizing symptoms) relates to trajectories of ego development across 10 years and how coping affected this developmental course. In applying a person-oriented approach, we used several trajectories of ego development from adolescence to young adulthood. These had been identified via a latent class growth analysis (LCGA) that generated a four-class quadratic model with high entropy value (.97) and a low BIC in an earlier study (Syed & Seiffge-Krenke, 2013). The first group (49%), termed normative stable, was marked by moderate initial growth followed by deceleration. The second group, termed moderate progression, showed a steady increase in ego development across the 10 years (33%). The rapid progression group (13%) was marked by high initial increases followed by deceleration. The stable low group (5%) showed low levels throughout. There were no gender differences in the ego development trajectories. Furthermore, there were no differences in classification with respect to SES or parents' marital status.

Comparison of the unconditional linear and quadratic models indicated that the linear model showed nearly identical fit to the data (BIC = 3195.55 vs. 3202.10, CFI = .962 vs. .963, respectively), and thus the linear model was selected for the sake of parsimony. The linear model, shown in Fig. 1, indicated a moderate to low level of internalizing symptoms at Time 1 that decreased significantly across adolescence and into emerging adulthood (b = −.40, p b .01; see Table 2, Model A). The variability around both the intercept and slope was statistically significant, indicating deviation within the sample around the point estimates that could be predicted with additional covariates. In the next model, we added gender and ego development trajectory class as predictors of the latent intercept and slope in the linear model (see Table 2, Model B). Gender was a marginally significant predictor of the intercept, such that males reported lower levels of internalizing than females (b = − 3.17, p = .09). In terms of ego development class, the rapid progression group had significantly higher initial levels of internalizing symptoms than the moderate stable group (b = 5.23, p b .05). None of the covariates significantly predicted the linear slope. The R2 for both the intercept and slope was .09 (calculated as 1 — residual variance), indicating that collectively the predictors accounted for a moderate amount of variance. The final model included active, internal, and withdrawal coping, portioned into between-person and within-person components. For the between-person component (person average collapsed across waves), withdrawal coping was a positive predictor of the intercept (b = 4.16, p b .001), indicating that greater use of withdrawal coping was associated with higher internalizing symptoms at Time 1. Additionally, internal coping was a marginally negative predictor of the slope (b = −.33, p = .06), meaning that greater use of withdrawal coping was associated with less of a decrease in internalizing symptoms over time. For the withinperson component (time-varying), greater use of internal coping was related to lower internalizing symptoms (b = −.54, p b .05), whereas greater use of withdrawal coping was related to higher internalizing symptoms (b = 1.00, p b .001). The change in R2 with the addition of the coping variables was .24 for the intercept and .03 for the slope. Taken together, these findings suggest that although internal coping might be a reasonable short-term approach to dealing with problems and stress, in the long term it may spur on psychopathological outcomes. Withdrawal coping is clearly not beneficial. Finally, after adding coping to the model, gender remained a marginal predictor of the intercept, and the rapid progression versus moderate stable comparison was reduced to marginal significance (Table 2, Model C). Trajectories of externalizing symptoms: Developmental course and predictors The models for externalizing symptoms followed the same procedure as for internalizing symptoms. The linear growth model was a better fit to the data than the quadratic model (BIC = 2916.54 vs. 2937.12,

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of study variables over time. Time 1

Ego develop. Active coping Internal coping Withdrawal coping Internalizing symptoms Externalizing symptoms ⁎ p b .05. ⁎⁎ p b .01. ⁎⁎⁎ p b .001.

Time 2

Time 3

Time 4

Time 5

Time 6

Growth Terms

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

n/a 2.53 2.82 1.20 14.32 13.33

n/a 1.30 1.66 0.94 8.36 6.24

4.37 3.49 4.01 1.39 12.91 12.96

0.79 1.24 1.45 1.14 8.28 6.75

4.22 3.55 4.07 1.33 12.97 12.54

0.82 1.31 1.46 1.16 8.50 6.56

5.00 3.71 4.14 1.38 12.30 12.02

0.91 1.33 1.50 1.13 7.74 6.36

n/a 3.85 4.13 1.38

n/a 1.40 1.51 1.35

n/a

n/a

5.49 3.24 2.56 0.93 11.22 7.79

0.94 1.10 1.02 0.88 8.40 4.85

Linear n/a 0.53⁎⁎⁎ 0.81⁎⁎⁎ 0.14⁎ −0.40⁎⁎ −0.85⁎⁎⁎

Quadratic n/a −0.07⁎⁎⁎ −0.13⁎⁎⁎ −0.03⁎⁎⁎ n/a n/a

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Fig. 1. Fitted growth model for internalizing symptoms.

Fig. 2. Fitted growth model for externalizing symptoms.

CFI = .967 vs. .891, respectively). The linear model, shown in Fig. 2, indicated a moderate to low level of externalizing symptoms at Time 1 that decreased significantly across adolescence and into emerging adulthood (b = − .85, p b .001; Table 3, Model A), also more sharply than internalizing symptoms decreased. The variability around both the intercept and slope was statistically significant, indicating deviation within the sample around the point estimates that could be predicted with additional covariates. Adding gender and ego development trajectory class revealed significant effects only for the comparison between the rapid progression and moderate stable groups (Table 3, Model B). The rapid progression groups showed higher levels at Time 1 (b = 4.69, p b .05), and

decreased marginally less over time (b = −.50, p = .07), in comparison to the moderate stable group. The R2 for the intercept was .07 and for the slope was .08. In the final model, which included the three types of coping, only withdrawal coping was a significant predictor of externalizing (Table 3, Model C). Greater mean level withdrawal coping was associated with higher levels of externalizing symptoms at Time 1 (b = 4.24, p b .001). In addition, the within-person component also indicated that greater use of withdrawal coping was associated with higher levels of externalizing symptoms (b = 1.13, p b .001). The previously significant difference between the rapid progression and moderate stable groups on the intercept attenuated to marginal significance, and the difference

Table 2 Growth models for internalizing symptoms.

Table 3 Growth models for externalizing symptoms.

Model A b

Model B SE

b

Intercept 13.70⁎⁎⁎ 0.84 13.69⁎⁎⁎ −3.17† Gendera b Stable low ego dev. 2.07 Moderate progression ego 2.60 dev.b 5.23⁎ Rapid progression ego dev.b Active coping (mean) Internal coping (mean) Withdrawal coping (mean) Slope −0.40⁎⁎ 0.14 −0.39⁎⁎ Gender −0.20 Stable low ego dev.b −0.85 Moderate progression ego −0.30 b dev. 0.16 Rapid progression ego dev.b Active coping (mean) Internal coping (mean) Withdrawal coping (mean) Active coping (time-varying) Internal coping (time-varying) Withdrawal coping (time-varying) a

female = 0, male = 1. Reference group is normative stable ego development. † p b .10. ⁎ p b .05. ⁎⁎ p b .01. ⁎⁎⁎ p b .001. b

Model C SE

b

0.84 13.86⁎⁎⁎ 1.65 −2.81† 3.81 2.94 1.82 2.19 2.50

4.16†

Model A SE

0.83 1.48 3.36 1.58 2.20

−1.47 0.95 1.37 0.97 4.16⁎⁎⁎ 0.86 0.14 0.27 0.66 0.30

−0.42⁎⁎ −0.15 −1.05 −0.31

0.14 0.27 0.65 0.29

0.42

0.21

0.41

0.19 −0.33† 0.01

0.18 0.18 0.16

0.50 −0.54⁎

0.32 0.23

1.00⁎⁎

0.33

b

Model B SE

b

Intercept 13.99⁎⁎⁎ 0.68 13.99⁎⁎⁎ −0.09 Gendera b Stable low ego dev. 1.83 Moderate progression ego 2.06 dev.b 4.69⁎ Rapid progression ego dev.b Active coping (mean) Internal coping (mean) Withdrawal coping (mean) Slope −0.85⁎⁎⁎ 0.09 −0.85⁎⁎⁎ Gender −0.04 Stable low ego dev.b −0.19 Moderate progression ego −0.24 b dev. −0.50† Rapid progression ego dev.b Active coping (mean) Internal coping (mean) Withdrawal coping (mean) Active coping (time-varying) Internal coping (time-varying) Withdrawal coping (time-varying) a

female = 0, male = 1. Reference group is normative stable ego development. p b .10. ⁎ p b .05. ⁎⁎ p b .01. ⁎⁎⁎ p b .001. b †

Model C SE

b

SE

0.68 1.36 3.12 1.48

13.82⁎⁎⁎ 0.72 2.25 1.40

0.64 1.07 2.42 1.14

2.05

2.89†

1.59

0.83 0.68 −0.23 0.70 4.24⁎⁎⁎ 0.62 0.09 0.18 0.44 0.20

−0.79⁎⁎ −0.03 −0.17 −0.20

0.09 0.18 0.42 0.19

0.27 −0.32

0.26

−0.06 −0.02 −0.14

0.11 0.12 0.10

0.30 −0.19

0.24 0.27

1.13⁎⁎⁎ 0.25

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between the two groups in the slope attenuated to non-significance. No other model terms were significant. The change in R2 with the addition of the coping variables was .36 for the intercept and .05 for the slope. Discussion Emerging adulthood is crucial for the establishment of psychological well-being in later life. However, past research has generated conflicting findings about the development of psychopathology from adolescence to emerging adulthood. In an attempt to identify potential antecedent and concurrent variables that can explain why individuals exhibit different pathways to adult health, we followed the developmental course of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a group of individuals who exhibited different ego development trajectories from adolescence into emerging adulthood. Our study aimed to explore whether an increase or a decrease in symptomatology is associated with a different developmental progression in ego development in conjunction with changes in coping behavior. In combining variable-oriented and person-oriented approaches to study individuals during a critical transition spanning ten years, we were able to show that, in general, increases in ego development and in adaptive coping behavior were associated with a decrease in symptomatology over time. A notable finding was that ego development trajectories with an overly steep progression were linked with maladaptive coping and resulted in higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms and less decrease in externalizing symptoms over time. As we discuss our primary findings below, we highlight three key contributions of this study to advancing theory on development across adolescence and emerging adulthood: 1) that internalizing and externalizing symptoms decrease during this period, 2) that developmental progressions of the self that exceed normative standards could put youth at risk, and 3) that different forms of coping may have differential adaptability depending on whether they are considered short-term or long-term strategies. Taken together, each of these findings has substantial applied implications, which we discuss below, in turn. The developmental course of psychopathology Before discussing the main finding regarding the developmental precursors of psychopathology in emerging adulthood, we need to emphasize that our sample, although small in number, resembles other German populations of the same age (Seiffge-Krenke & Haid, 2012; Statistisches Bundesamt, 2012). Most of the young people at age 24 in our sample were in transition and had not yet reached adult work status, which is reminiscent of the floundering and exploring young adults in the educational and professional domain described by Krahn et al. (2012). Furthermore, the participants' living situations were quite diverse (Seiffge-Krenke, 2006). In accordance with North American (Kim et al., 2003; Schulenberg & Zarrett, 2006) and German nationwide studies (Lambert et al., 2013), the scores for internalizing symptoms were substantially higher in females than in males, but did not reach the clinical range. A first important finding of this study was that in our sample, levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms decreased during the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Across ten years, the decrease in externalizing symptoms was even more prominent than the decrease in internalizing symptoms, supporting findings of Schulenberg, Bryant, et al. (2004) and Gutman and Sameroff (2004). Similarly, in analyzing trends in the age distribution of problem behavior, Hayford and Furstenberg (2008) found little evidence that behaviors typical for adolescence (e.g., delinquent behavior or substance use) continued to persist with increasing age. Thus, although the achievement of adult roles may be taking place at older ages, the stretching of the transition to adulthood is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in externalizing symptomatology.

Exploring the role of ego developmental trajectories Emerging adulthood is a developmental phase involving highly diverse tasks. We explored the impact of different developmental progression in psychosocial maturity, operationalized as ego development, on the developmental course of psychopathology. In general, our findings showed that the majority of the sample demonstrated increases in ego development over time, paralleled by a decrease in symptomatology. Typically, adolescents exhibit a modal ego level ranging from selfprotective (i.e., they seek to control themselves and others in order to further develop their own interests) to conformist (i.e., they are attuned to the needs, expectations, and opinions of others). In contrast, the modal level for young adults varies between self-aware (i.e., an awareness of being different from others) and conscientious (i.e., a strong sense of responsibility for one's thoughts and values), with females scoring higher than males (Westenberg & Gjerde, 1999). In our study, during adolescence (14 to 17 years), a movement into the conformist level (E4) was established. At age 24, a further progression to the fifth and sixth levels (self-aware and conscientious) was noticeable. However, after a strong progression during adolescence, the gain during emerging adulthood was less marked, confirming the notion of greater stability in young adulthood (Loevinger, Cohn, & Bonneville, 1985; Westenberg & Block, 1993). A different picture emerged when looking at different ego development trajectories and their impact on the developmental course of psychopathology. It is noteworthy that the trajectories indicated that much greater ego development had occurred during adolescence than at emerging adulthood, at which point the different development trajectories began to plateau. Further, the findings suggest that although changes in ego development seemed appropriate in some subgroups, for individuals following other ego developmental trajectories, the changes resulted in high levels of symptomatology. More specifically, trajectories with initial growth followed by stable levels of ego development (stable low) or further slow progression in ego development (normative stable and moderate progression) did not impact the developmental course (i.e., with respect to the slopes of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology). However, those individuals showing rapid progression (13% of the sample) (e.g., high initial increases and further strong increases during adolescence) showed higher levels of internalizing symptomatology from the start. In addition, they also exhibited higher initial scores in externalizing symptoms, and these scores decreased only marginally over time. This finding seems to suggest that a too strong thrust towards psychosocial maturity comes at some cost. We may speculate that ego development, which entails an integrative aspect, needs time for consolidation, and that a too rapid progression may be reminiscent of a pseudomaturity. Relatedly, the subjective perception of what is an appropriate developmental progression may play a role here. Barker and Galambos (2005) and Galambos, Turner, and Tilton-Weaver (2005) reported that young people have an implicit knowledge about psychosocial maturity and that “attaining too much too soon” may result in health problems. In this respect, it is important to note that young people consider emerging adulthood to be an institutionalized moratorium (Arnett, 2004; Côté, 2006). Because ego development and identity processes are related developmental domains (McAdams, 1998), findings from this research may further help to explain our results. In summarizing research on identity status in young people in Western industrialized countries, Kroger, Martinussen, and Marcia (2010) found indications of a delay in identity development with only a small proportion of young people in different countries receiving a mature, achieved identity status at age 24. Progression from adolescence to emerging adulthood (from 19% at age 18 to 34% at age 30) was two times more likely than regression, but the change occurred very slowly over time. Thus, during emerging adulthood, the majority of young people were in the process of exploration and not yet ready for commitment in different life domains. In a similar vein, Luyckx et al. (2014)

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found that although only a small proportion of emerging adults (17%) showed an achieved identity status in the domains of love and work, most were trying to achieve these goals sequentially, not concurrently. Taken together, the strong impact of a rapid progression in ego development is perhaps less adaptive in a time where exploration, feeling trapped in between, and a delayed transition to adulthood (Arnett, 2004) are considered as appropriate. As such, an overly rapid progression in ego development might be experienced as non-normative and thus may compromise health, for both males and females alike. All of that said, this finding should be taken as preliminary, given the relatively small sample size. At this time we cannot rule out the possibility that the finding is a statistical artifact. Future direct and conceptual replication of the finding is necessary to gain a full understanding about the impact of the pacing of ego development. The impact of coping In general, our longitudinal data showed that the participants showed improvements in their coping competence during the transition period, as reflected by the notable increases in active coping and internal coping, which is an important finding per se, as we lack studies reporting continuity or change in coping behavior during the transition period. In contrast, the more dysfunctional coping style of withdrawal, which does not lead to a solution of the problem at hand, showed only low increases over time. Although a particular coping strategy is not universally beneficial or detrimental (Wrosch, Scheier, Carver, & Schulz, 2003), active coping strategies (e.g., problem solving or seeking support) have been shown to predict better psychological heath. Avoidance and withdrawal typically predict poorer outcomes (Lazarus, 1993; Seiffge-Krenke, 2001). In particular, the long-term effects of avoidant coping on depressive symptoms have been well established (Herman-Stahl et al., 1995; Lazarus, 1998; Seiffge-Krenke & Klessinger, 2000). Our findings provided a somewhat complex answer regarding how different types of coping were related to symptoms over time. Because the three types of coping we investigated (active, internal, and withdrawal) varied over time, in our analyses we isolated the between-person and within-person associations with symptoms. This separation of effects allows for an understanding of how coping is related to symptoms over time both in terms of stable individual differences (between-person) and time-specific associations (within-person). The findings for withdrawal coping were clear and consistent: Individuals who engaged in this type of coping more frequently, collapsed across time, also had much higher levels of both internalizing and externalizing symptoms (between-person). Moreover, withdrawal coping was also positively associated with internalizing and externalizing within specific time points (within-person). Thus, withdrawal coping is a maladaptive strategy both in the long run and in the short (Schulenberg, Bryant, et al., 2004; Seiffge-Krenke, 2011). The findings for internal coping stand in contrast. Whereas the time-specific analyses of greater internal coping were related to lower levels of internalizing, individual differences in internal coping were related to a marginally lower decrease in internalizing symptoms over time. Taken together, these results suggest that internal coping (e.g., reflections about possible solutions) was, in the short term, functional in reducing internalizing symptoms, but in the long term it was not (see also Garnefski et al., 2002). Limitations and suggestions for future research Before discussing the limitations of the our study, we wish to emphasize that although some of the coefficients were rather modest, these were obtained while simultaneously controlling for all associations, and obtained from a relatively small sample. We also should note that our study embraced a complex variable- and personoriented approach over an extended time span of 10 years. This being

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said, the present study is characterized by several limitations. First, although self-reports are most appropriate to gather information about internal and subjective processes such as ego development, coping, and self-perceived symptomatology, collecting data from a single informant might artificially inflate associations between constructs. Second, the sample was representative, but small, and thus we were not able to analyze the impact of changes in work and relationship status on the course of psychopathology. There is some research showing that role changes such as marriage, parenthood, and securing stable employment are linked with decreases in depression and an increase in well-being (Galambos, Barker, & Krahn, 2006). Our sample was typical for Germans in emerging adulthood (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2012), with most having left the parental home and being in firm partnerships, but only a small proportion having secured full-time employment (Seiffge-Krenke, Persike, & Luyckx, 2013). Replication on a larger sample with young people of different work and relationship status warrants investigation. Third, this longitudinal study is also limited with respect to the range of potentially relevant variables that were addressed. For example, other determinants of psychopathology, such as adversity during the transition (Lanning, Colucci, & Edwards, 2007), the lack of supportive close relationships (Sameroff et al., 2004), or the function of parents as models for psychosocial maturity (SeiffgeKrenke & Pakalniskiene, 2011) were not studied. Fourth, due to the small sample size, we had to collapse coping with different stressors over domains. The findings might be different if we had analyzed coping with specific stressors, separately for males and females, and analyzed their relative impacts on ego developmental trajectories. For example, whereas stress in close relationships (e.g., break-ups) is more closely associated with depression in females, males' mental health is less comprised (Simon & Barrett, 2010). Thus, future research might investigate the aforementioned aspects in a larger and culturally more diverse sample in order to achieve a better picture of the factors that contribute to diversity in the developmental course of psychopathology. Conclusion This study is unique in so far as it links the developmental courses of ego-development, coping, and psychopathology in a non-clinical sample in order to explore the extent to which changes in ego development trajectories and coping were associated with changes in mental health. We identified a slow to moderate progression in ego development in most individuals that enabled them to cope more effectively. This represented an antecedent factor that promoted healthy development during the transition period. In contrast, an overly steep progression in ego development, which seems to be developmentally inappropriate, came at some cost. Such individuals lack the capacity to apply adaptive coping strategies and are therefore targets for preventive intervention. References Achenbach, T. (1991). Manual for the youth self-report (YSR). Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry. Achenbach, T. (1997). Manual for the young adult self-report (YASR 18–30). Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry. Aebi, M., Giger, J., Plattner, B., Winkler Metzge, C., & Steinhausen, H. C. (2015). Problem coping skills, psychosocial adversities and mental health problem in children and adolescents as predictors of criminal outcomes in young adulthood. European Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (in press). Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Arnett, J. J. (2005). The developmental context of substance use in emerging adulthood. Journal of Drug Issues, 25, 235–254. Arnett, J. J. (2006). The psychology of emerging adulthood: What is known, and what remains to be known? In J. J. Arnett, & J. L. Tanner (Eds.), Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century (pp. 303–330). Washington, DC: APA Press. Azmitia, M., Syed, M., & Radmacher, K. A. (2013). Finding your niche: Identity and emotional support in emerging adults' adjustment to the transition to college. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23(4), 744–761. Barker, E. T., & Galambos, N. L. (2005). Adolescents' implicit theories of maturity: Ages of adulthood, freedom, and fun. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20, 557–576.

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