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Personality functioning and clinical presentation in early adolescence. II.
Summary
A minority of 13-year-olds show personality function disturbances, differing from peers in clinical interviews. These differences in adolescent personality functioning impact presentation and experience.
Area of Science:
- Adolescent Psychiatry
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Early adolescence is a critical developmental period.
- Understanding personality function in non-clinical adolescents is crucial.
- Clinical presentation can indicate underlying personality disturbances.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the clinical presentation of early adolescents.
- To investigate the relationship between personality function competence and clinical presentation.
- To identify characteristics distinguishing adolescents with and without personality disturbances.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 63 non-clinical 13-year-olds.
- Semi-structured psychiatric interviews.
- Independent, blind assessment of phenomenology, attitudes, defense mechanisms, and relatedness by two psychiatrists.
Main Results:
- A significant minority of early adolescents exhibit definite personality function disturbances.
- Adolescents with disturbances differ from competent peers in identifiable clinical interview characteristics.
- No significant gender differences in turmoil were observed; girls showed similar levels to boys.
Conclusions:
- Early adolescents are not a homogeneous group regarding personality functioning.
- Individual differences in personality functioning manifest in distinct clinical presentations.
- Clinical interviews can reveal personality function disturbances in early adolescence.