Youth-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasingly common and is often diagnosed shortly before transition from pediatric to adult care. Little is known about the experience of emerging adults (EAs) ...with T2D and the readiness, barriers, and facilitators to transition. This study sought to describe the illness experience of EAs with T2D and perceptions about transition, and explore themes by “transition readiness,” measured by the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ).
In this mixed-methods study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with EAs with T2D using a guide grounded in the health belief model, administered the TRAQ, and collected disease metrics from the electronic medical record. We developed a coding scheme using a directed content-analysis approach and triangulated qualitative and quantitative data to compare themes stratified by mean TRAQ score.
Participants described modifying factors like adjusting to life with a chronic illness and coping with mental health issues as critical elements of the illness experience that influence transition. Individual beliefs emerged including the perceived risk of disease complications being informed by experience of family members, self-efficacy in diabetes care hinging on the ability to be highly organized, and transition as a daunting obstacle with numerous emotional and logistical barriers. Participants emphasized the need for support from caregivers and providers throughout transition. Themes did not vary significantly by TRAQ score.
Experiences of EAs with T2D suggest more assistance is needed in the transition period to address factors such as mental health, organizational skills, and identifying support people to facilitate care.
The rising prevalence of daily cannabis use among older adolescents and young adults in the United States has significant public health implications. As a result, more individuals may be seeking or ...in need of treatment for adverse outcomes (e.g., cannabis use disorder) arising from excessive cannabis use. Our objective was to explore the potential of self-reported motives for cannabis use as a foundation for developing adaptive interventions tailored to reduce cannabis consumption over time or in certain circumstances. We aimed to understand how transitions in these motives, which can be collected with varying frequencies (yearly, monthly, daily), predict the frequency and adverse outcomes of cannabis use.
We conducted secondary analyses on data collected at different frequencies from four studies: the Medical Cannabis Certification Cohort Study (
= 801, biannually), the Cannabis, Health, and Young Adults Project (
= 359, annually), the Monitoring the Future Panel Study (
= 7,851, biennially), and the Text Messaging Study (
= 87, daily). These studies collected time-varying motives for cannabis use and distal measures of cannabis use from adolescents, young adults, and adults. We applied latent transition analysis with random intercepts to analyze the data.
We identified the types of transitions in latent motive classes that are predictive of adverse outcomes in the future, specifically transitions into or staying in classes characterized by multiple motives.
The identification of such transitions has direct implications for the development of adaptive interventions designed to prevent adverse health outcomes related to cannabis use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Family-based microaggressions and discrimination experienced by youth with LGBTQ+ parents are important to understand from their perspectives. Using mixed methods, we examined such experiences among ...12- to 25-year-old youth (N = 51) with at least one LGBTQ+ parent in the United States. Youth were diverse in race/ethnicity, family structure, gender and sexual identities, socioeconomic status, and geographic region. Using interviews, we explored LGBTQ+ family-based microaggressions (reported through scale items with feedback) and discrimination (assessed via thematic analysis). Microaggressions and discrimination based on having LGBTQ+ parents were common, yet there were distinctions in direct and indirect stigma across the quantitative items and qualitative themes. These results underscore the value of mixed methods research with youth and implications for future research, practice, and policy.
•Three ACE classes emerged with differences in mental health symptoms.•Multiple ACEs subgroup reported higher somatization, anxiety, and overall symptoms.•Emotional abuse subgroup reported higher ...levels of anxiety and overall symptoms.•ACE exposure patterns distinguish between who may be at risk for different symptoms.
It is well known that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked with mental health problems. Identifying different patterns of exposure to adverse childhood experiences can provide information regarding what types of adversity may place individuals at most risk for poor mental health. The aims of our study were to identify underlying patterns of 10 types of ACEs in a sample of young adults (i.e., 18–21 years) and to examine relations between the ACEs classes and mental health symptoms (i.e., somatization, depression, anxiety, overall psychological stress). We found that a three-class model fit the data best: low ACEs, high emotional abuse only, and high multiple ACEs. We found significant differences across classes for all mental health symptoms. The high multiple ACEs class had significantly higher mean somatization, anxiety, and overall psychological stress scores than both the high emotional abuse only and low ACEs classes, and the high emotional abuse only class had higher mean anxiety and overall psychological stress scores in comparison to the low ACEs class. In contrast, our results suggest that the low ACEs and high emotional abuse only classes had higher mean levels of depression symptoms than the high multiple ACEs class. Our findings highlight the importance of examining the unique effects of different patterns of exposure to ACEs on mental health to inform prevention and intervention efforts that mitigate the harmful effects of ACEs on mental health.
Objective: Having Type 1 diabetes (T1D) may complicate the normative developmental task of personal identity formation in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Besides exploring and committing to ...identity choices in different life domains, youth with T1D need to integrate their illness into their identity, a process labeled as illness identity. The present study examined whether youth with T1D belonging to different personal identity trajectory classes developed differently on four illness identity dimensions (acceptance, enrichment, engulfment, rejection). Method: This four-wave longitudinal study over a 3-year period used self-report questionnaires to examine how personal identity trajectory classes were related to illness identity over time in youth with T1D (baseline: n = 558; 54% female; age range = 14-25 years). Personal identity trajectory classes were identified using latent class growth analysis. Differential development of the four illness identity dimensions among these personal identity trajectory classes was examined using multigroup latent growth curve modeling. Results: Five personal identity trajectory classes were identified: achievement, foreclosure, moratorium, carefree diffusion, and troubled diffusion. Individuals in achievement and foreclosure displayed highest levels of diabetes integration (i.e., high levels of acceptance and enrichment; low levels of engulfment and rejection), whereas individuals in troubled diffusion displayed lowest levels of illness integration (i.e., low levels of acceptance and enrichment; high levels of engulfment and rejection). Conclusions: The present study confirms that personal identity development relates to illness identity development over time in youth with T1D. Understanding the intricate link between personal and illness identity may help clinicians to tailor their interventions to patients' individual needs.
Objetivo: Tener diabetes tipo 1 (T1D, por sus siglas en inglés) puede complicar la tarea de desarrollo normativo de la formación de la identidad personal en la adolescencia y la edad adulta emergente. Además de explorar y comprometerse con opciones de identidad en diferentes ámbitos de la vida, los jóvenes con T1D necesitan integrar su enfermedad en su identidad, un proceso denominado identidad de enfermedad. El presente estudio examinó si los jóvenes con T1D pertenecientes a diferentes clases de trayectoria de identidad personal se desarrollaron de manera diferente en cuatro dimensiones de identidad de la enfermedad (aceptación, enriquecimiento, absorción, rechazo). Métodos: Este estudio longitudinal de cuatro ondas utilizó cuestionarios de autoinforme para examinar cómo las clases de trayectoria de identidad personal se relacionaban con la identidad de la enfermedad a lo largo del tiempo en jóvenes con T1D (Inicio: n = 558; 54% mujeres; rango de edad = 14-25 años). Las clases de trayectoria de identidad personal se identificaron mediante análisis de crecimiento de clases latentes. Se examinó el desarrollo diferencial de las cuatro dimensiones de identidad de la enfermedad entre estas clases de trayectoria de identidad personal utilizando modelos de curva de crecimiento latente multigrupo. Resultados: Se identificaron cinco clases de trayectoria de identidad personal: logro, exclusión, moratoria, difusión despreocupada y difusión problemática. Los individuos en logro y exclusión mostraron niveles más altos de integración de la diabetes (es decir, altos niveles de aceptación y enriquecimiento; bajos niveles de absorción y rechazo), mientras que los individuos en difusión problemática mostraron niveles más bajos de integración de la enfermedad (es decir, bajos niveles de aceptación y enriquecimiento; altos niveles de inmersión y rechazo). Conclusiones: El estudio presente confirma que el desarrollo de la identidad personal se relaciona con el desarrollo de la identidad de la enfermedad a lo largo del tiempo en jóvenes con T1D. Comprender el enlace intrincado entre la identidad personal y la de la enfermedad puede ayudar a los médicos a adaptar sus intervenciones a las necesidades individuales de los pacientes.
Public Significance StatementNowadays, many Western youth seem to struggle with exploring and committing to different identity options (i.e., personal identity processes), making identity development an important clinical research topic. More recently, it has become clear that youth with a chronic illness such as Type 1 diabetes (T1D) encounter an additional challenge of integrating one's illness into their identity, inspiring a new research line on illness identity. The present findings suggest the importance of integrating personal and illness identity challenges in supporting youth with T1D. Health care providers are encouraged to discuss with their patients whether they experience identity difficulties, and to be aware that difficulties in personal and illness identity often go hand in hand.
In the current study, we test the precursors to the Dark Triad traits, as well as the role that the Dark Triad traits have on predicting aggression. Participants (N=599, age range=18–83years) ...completed measures of the Dark Triad traits, emerging adulthood facets, and reactive and proactive aggression. In support of our theoretical model, (a) participant's age was related to all emerging adulthood facets except other and self-focused, (b) aggression was predicted by all the Dark Triad traits, and (c) several emerging adult facets predicted various Dark Triad traits. These findings were further substantiated by mediation tests that confirmed our theoretically derived adult developmental pathways from participant age to aggression. Specifically, results showed that feeling in-between, negativity, and identity exploration were the key emerging adult variables that served as mediators from age to aggressive behavior by predicting at least one Dark Triad trait(s). Overall, the Dark Triad traits are an important precursor to aggressive behavior, but also likely develop as a function of adult developmentally relevant predictors.
•Tested the relations between Dark Triad, emerging adulthood, age, and aggression.•Dark Triad traits positively predicted aggression.•Certain emerging adulthood facets predicted Dark Triad.•Age predicted emerging adulthood facets.•Multiple mediated pathways between age and aggression were observed.
The Dark Triad is a set of correlated personality variables (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) that are related to myriad behaviors. Myriad studies have been conducted to test the ...relations between the Dark Triad and other personality variables (e.g., the Big 5); however, the developmental correlates have been understudied. In the current study, we examined how markers of emerging adulthood and age predict the Dark Triad traits using a cross-sectional design. Participants (N=442) of varying ages (M age=32.99, range=18–74) completed Dark Triad measures and a validated questionnaire used to assess the degree to which participants believe they have successfully navigated through various facets of emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood facets (e.g., negativity, other-focused, and feeling in-between) correlated with several Dark Triad traits. Additionally, several emerging adulthood facets mediated the relation between age and the Dark Triad traits; i.e., older participants were lower on the Dark Triad traits because of the successful transition through emerging adulthood. Results are discussed in terms of the Theory of Emerging Adulthood (Arnett, 2000).
•We tested relations between age, the Dark Triad, and facets of emerging adulthood.•As age increased, the Dark Triad traits and emerging adulthood facets decreased.•Negativity mediated the relation between age and all Dark Triad traits.
Past research syntheses provided evidence that personality traits are both stable and changeable throughout the life span. However, early meta-analytic estimates were constrained by a relatively ...small universe of longitudinal studies, many of which tracked personality traits in small samples over moderate time periods using measures that were only loosely related to contemporary trait models such as the Big Five. Since then, hundreds of new studies have emerged allowing for more precise estimates of personality trait stability and change across the life span. Here, we updated and extended previous research syntheses on personality trait development by synthesizing novel longitudinal data on rank-order stability (total k = 189, total N = 178,503) and mean-level change (total k = 276, N = 242,542) from studies published after January 1, 2005. Consistent with earlier meta-analytic findings, the rank-order stability of personality traits increased significantly throughout early life before reaching a plateau in young adulthood. These increases in stability coincide with mean-level changes in the direction of greater maturity. In contrast to previous findings, we found little evidence for increasing rank-order stabilities after Age 25. Moreover, cumulative mean-level trait changes across the life span were slightly smaller than previously estimated. Emotional stability, however, increased consistently and more substantially across the life span than previously found. Moderator analyses indicated that narrow facet-level and maladaptive trait measures were less stable than broader domain and adaptive trait measures. Overall, the present findings draw a more precise picture of the life span development of personality traits and highlight important gaps in the personality development literature.
Public Significance Statement
This study summarized data from hundreds of longitudinal studies to confirm that (a) personality trait differences are fairly stable among adults, (b) these differences tend to stabilize during adolescence and young adulthood, and (c) personality tends to change in the direction of greater maturity as people age. These patterns hold across gender, nation, and ethnicity, although research from Western countries was overrepresented.
