Externalizing Problem Behaviors Among Chinese Early Adolescents in Poverty: Profiles and Longitudinal Change

Children's externalizing problem behavior is one of the most explored topics among parents, educators, and research scholars. The purpose of this study is to examine the developmental changes of externalizing problem behavior in the early years of poor children and adolescents and the influence of family factors such as family functioning and parental marital quality on the developmental changes. Seven hundred and seventy-eight early adolescents (M_age = 13.7, SD = 2.53) from poor families were studied longitudinally for 14 months. The results showed that three potential characteristics of externalizing problem behavior patterns were identified through Latent Profile Analysis (LPA): well-adjusted group, attention disorder group, and conduct problem group. Latent Transition Analysis (LTA) revealed a tendency for the conduct problem group to transition to the well-adjusted group over two traces (OR = 0.40). There were gender differences in the results: boys in the conduct problem group were more likely to transition to the well-adjusted group (OR = 0.55), while girls in the attention disorder group were more likely to transition to the well-adjusted group (OR = 2.63). Research has found that a supportive family environment is a positive factor in mitigating externalizing problem behaviors of the early adolescents in their transition to adolescence.