The role of early adolescents’ emotionality and self-regulation in predicting the development of internalizing problems in three countries

Parenting behaviors and child temperament are key predictors of individuals’ adjustment. However, the relations among such factors are not straightforward and merit further exploration, especially across countries. The current study examined the effects of emotionality, effortful control, and parenting in predicting the longitudinal development of internalizing problems during adolescence. Participants were 541 adolescents (T1:Mage = 12.62, SD = .69), their mothers and fathers, recruited from Colombia, Italy (Naples, Rome), and three ethnic groups in the USA (European-American, African-American, Latin-American). T1 early adolescents’ temperament (negative/positive emotions and effortful control) was mother- and youth-reported (EATQ; Capaldi & Rothbart, 1992), parental monitoring was mother-reported (Patterson & Dishion, 1985), and psychological control was youth-reported (Silk et al., 2003). Internalizing problems from age 13 (T2) to 16 (T5) were parent-reported and were assessed annually (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991). Unconditional and conditional multiple-group latent growth-curve (LGC) models of internalizing problems were examined across the cultural groups. The 2 test comparing the linear and the no-growth models supported the need for the slope factor. The mean of the slope was negative (the internalizing problems LGC had an overall linear decreasing trend) in all cultural groups except in Naples (in which the slope was non-significant). The predictive role of temperament, parenting, and their interactions were tested in relation to LGC’s intercept (initial internalizing problems) and slope. Results showed that higher negative emotions and psychological control, lower positive emotions and effortful control were associated with the intercept. Furthermore, interactions between psychological control and both positive (except for Colombians) and negative emotions (except for the Latin-Americans) were significantly associated with the intercept. Lastly, the interaction between parental monitoring and effortful control was associated with the slope across cultures. This study contributes to understanding the mechanisms by which personal/contextual factors interact in the development of internalizing problems during adolescence.