Abstract
The longevity of longitudinal samples now allows study of such awaited projects as the prediction of psychological health from adolescence to early, middle, and later adulthood. In this report, we used California Q-sort (CQS) data collected from 106 members of the Intergenerational Studies at ages 14, 18, 30, 40, and 60. A Psychological Health Index (PHI) and measures of six aspects of personality (self-confidence, assertiveness, cognitive commitment, outgoingness, dependability, and warmth) were created from CQS items. Statistical analysis proceeds by univariate and multivariate steps to calculate the separate and combined ability of PHI and personality components in early and late adolescence to predict PHI and personality components at adult ages. Men show more overtime consistency than women in PHI from early adolescence through later adulthood. For both genders, PHI at age 40 draws the best prediction from early-adolescent PHI, still more so for men when late-adolescent effects are partialled out. Of the strong early-adolescent personality components predictive of age 40 PHI for men, dependability shows a unique reversal effect, such that the most psychologically healthy men at age 40 are those who show dependability in early adolescence and undependability in late adolescence. Aspects of social engagement, embodied by outgoingness at age 40, as one element of psychological health, appear most strongly related to this reversal effect of dependability in adolescence.
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Peskin, H., Jones, C. Early- and Late-Adolescent Predictors of Psychological Health in Adulthood: Results from the Intergenerational Studies. J Adult Dev 22, 230–238 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-015-9214-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-015-9214-5