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Depression, Self-Esteem, and Anger in Emerging Adulthood: Seven-Year Trajectories Nancy L. Galambos University of Alberta Erin T. Barker National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Harvey J. Krahn University of Alberta This study used a school-based community sample (N 920) to examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18 –25). Using data from 5 waves, the authors discovered that multilevel models indicated that, on average, depressive symptoms and expressed anger declined, whereas self-esteem increased. Between-persons predictors of variability in trajectories included gender (gender gaps in depressive symptoms and self-esteem narrowed), parents’ education, and conflict with parents (depressive symptoms and expressed anger improved fastest in participants with highly educated parents and in those with higher conflict). Across time, increases in social support and marriage were associated with increased psychological well-being, whereas longer periods of unemployment were connected with higher depression and lower self-esteem. Emerging adulthood is a time of improving psychological well-being, but individual trajectories depend on specific individual and family characteristics as well as role changes. Keywords: depression, self-esteem, anger, emerging adults, trajectories According to Arnett (2000), the years from ages 18 to 25 cover a period of life best called emerging adulthood. Individuals pass- ing through this period typically work on a variety of develop- mental tasks and engage in intense identity exploration (Roisman, Masten, Coatsworth, & Tellegen, 2004; Schulenberg, Maggs, & O’Malley, 2003). As a group, not only do emerging adults show a great deal of diversity in the paths they follow into and out of education, work, and residential statuses, but subjectively many do not feel that they have reached adulthood (Arnett, 2000, 2003). Others have also pointed to emerging adulthood as a period during which trajectories are highly variable. Using narrative descrip- tions, P. Cohen, Kasen, Chen, Hartmark, and Gordon (2003) showed that from ages 17 to 27, the average individual gained autonomy with respect to obtaining employment, establishing fi- nancial and residential independence, and becoming a parent, yet these transitions did not occur at the same rate or in the same order for everyone. Moreover, for some, there was movement back and forth between dependency and independence (see also Goldschei- der & Goldscheider, 1999; Mitchell, Wister, & Gee, 2004). Schulenberg et al. (2003) argued that the transition to adulthood is marked by a series of psychological changes such as increased emotional regulation as well as changes in roles (e.g., employment, marriage). Even though there may be discontinuity in behaviors and role statuses as individuals pursue developmental tasks, the goal may remain continuous, that is, general adaptation. Under- standing intraindividual variability in psychological functioning in emerging adulthood is crucial, accompanied by investigation of the influence of earlier and proximal events and experiences on tra- jectories of change in psychological well-being (Schulenberg, Bry- ant, & O’Malley, 2004; Schulenberg et al., 2003). Accordingly, the first goal of the current study was to examine trajectories of change in three critical aspects of psychological well-being as young people move from ages 18 to 25: depression, self-esteem, and anger. The second goal was to identify earlier sources of variation in trajectories of change in depression, self-esteem, and anger. We considered between-persons differences in individual, family, and school-related variables at age 18 that explain subsequent psycho- logical functioning. The third goal was to learn how proximal events and experiences are associated with changes in psycholog- ical well-being. Thus, we examined how within-person changes across time in social support and role statuses accompany shifts in trajectories of depression, self-esteem, and anger. Trajectories of Change in Psychological Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood During adolescence, depression not only increases but a marked gender difference emerges, with more girls than boys experiencing depressive symptoms and episodes of clinical depression (Galam- Nancy L. Galambos, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Erin T. Barker, Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland; Harvey J. Krahn, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta. Support for this research was provided by grants to Harvey J. Krahn from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Alberta Advanced Education. We thank Iris Maus for her suggestion to control for depressive symptoms when examining the relation between gender and expressed anger. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nancy L. Galambos, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, P-217 Bio- logical Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada. E-mail: [email protected] Developmental Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association 2006, Vol. 42, No. 2, 350 –365 0012-1649/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.350 350

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Page 1: Depression, Self-Esteem, And Anger in Emerging Adulthood

Depression, Self-Esteem, and Anger in Emerging Adulthood:Seven-Year Trajectories

Nancy L. GalambosUniversity of Alberta

Erin T. BarkerNational Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Harvey J. KrahnUniversity of Alberta

This study used a school-based community sample (N � 920) to examine trajectories of depressivesymptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18–25).Using data from 5 waves, the authors discovered that multilevel models indicated that, on average,depressive symptoms and expressed anger declined, whereas self-esteem increased. Between-personspredictors of variability in trajectories included gender (gender gaps in depressive symptoms andself-esteem narrowed), parents’ education, and conflict with parents (depressive symptoms and expressedanger improved fastest in participants with highly educated parents and in those with higher conflict).Across time, increases in social support and marriage were associated with increased psychologicalwell-being, whereas longer periods of unemployment were connected with higher depression and lowerself-esteem. Emerging adulthood is a time of improving psychological well-being, but individualtrajectories depend on specific individual and family characteristics as well as role changes.

Keywords: depression, self-esteem, anger, emerging adults, trajectories

According to Arnett (2000), the years from ages 18 to 25 covera period of life best called emerging adulthood. Individuals pass-ing through this period typically work on a variety of develop-mental tasks and engage in intense identity exploration (Roisman,Masten, Coatsworth, & Tellegen, 2004; Schulenberg, Maggs, &O’Malley, 2003). As a group, not only do emerging adults show agreat deal of diversity in the paths they follow into and out ofeducation, work, and residential statuses, but subjectively many donot feel that they have reached adulthood (Arnett, 2000, 2003).Others have also pointed to emerging adulthood as a period duringwhich trajectories are highly variable. Using narrative descrip-tions, P. Cohen, Kasen, Chen, Hartmark, and Gordon (2003)showed that from ages 17 to 27, the average individual gainedautonomy with respect to obtaining employment, establishing fi-nancial and residential independence, and becoming a parent, yetthese transitions did not occur at the same rate or in the same orderfor everyone. Moreover, for some, there was movement back and

forth between dependency and independence (see also Goldschei-der & Goldscheider, 1999; Mitchell, Wister, & Gee, 2004).

Schulenberg et al. (2003) argued that the transition to adulthoodis marked by a series of psychological changes such as increasedemotional regulation as well as changes in roles (e.g., employment,marriage). Even though there may be discontinuity in behaviorsand role statuses as individuals pursue developmental tasks, thegoal may remain continuous, that is, general adaptation. Under-standing intraindividual variability in psychological functioning inemerging adulthood is crucial, accompanied by investigation of theinfluence of earlier and proximal events and experiences on tra-jectories of change in psychological well-being (Schulenberg, Bry-ant, & O’Malley, 2004; Schulenberg et al., 2003). Accordingly, thefirst goal of the current study was to examine trajectories of changein three critical aspects of psychological well-being as youngpeople move from ages 18 to 25: depression, self-esteem, andanger. The second goal was to identify earlier sources of variationin trajectories of change in depression, self-esteem, and anger. Weconsidered between-persons differences in individual, family, andschool-related variables at age 18 that explain subsequent psycho-logical functioning. The third goal was to learn how proximalevents and experiences are associated with changes in psycholog-ical well-being. Thus, we examined how within-person changesacross time in social support and role statuses accompany shifts intrajectories of depression, self-esteem, and anger.

Trajectories of Change in Psychological Well-Being inEmerging Adulthood

During adolescence, depression not only increases but a markedgender difference emerges, with more girls than boys experiencingdepressive symptoms and episodes of clinical depression (Galam-

Nancy L. Galambos, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta,Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Erin T. Barker, Child and Family Research,National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda,Maryland; Harvey J. Krahn, Department of Sociology, University ofAlberta.

Support for this research was provided by grants to Harvey J. Krahnfrom the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada andAlberta Advanced Education. We thank Iris Maus for her suggestion tocontrol for depressive symptoms when examining the relation betweengender and expressed anger.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nancy L.Galambos, Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, P-217 Bio-logical Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada. E-mail:[email protected]

Developmental Psychology Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association2006, Vol. 42, No. 2, 350–365 0012-1649/06/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.350

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bos, Leadbeater, & Barker, 2004; Petersen, Sarigiani, & Kennedy,1991; Wade, Cairney, & Pevalin, 2002; Wight, Sepulveda, &Aneshensel, 2004). Although there is a body of research on thecourse of depression throughout adolescence (e.g., Ge, Lorenz,Conger, Elder, & Simons, 1994; Hankin, Abramson, Moffitt,Silva, & McGee, 1998), intraindividual changes in depressionfrom adolescence through emerging adulthood in community sam-ples have gone largely unaddressed (Merikangas et al., 2003).Cross-sectional studies indicate that the prevalence of major de-pression and depressive symptoms is highest in the teen yearscompared with adulthood (e.g., ages 20 and older; Wade & Cair-ney, 1997; Wight et al., 2004). A study of Canadian adolescents inGrades 7–12 found that elevated depressive symptoms in girlswere highest in Grades 9 and 10 but lower in Grade 12 (Poulin,Hand, Boudreau, & Santor, 2005). A study that followed highschool seniors to 1 year postgraduation indicated that depressivesymptoms decreased significantly in that year (Aseltine & Gore,1993), and in a multiwave study, there was a steady decrease in theprevalence of depressive symptoms from ages 19–20 to the mid-30s (Merikangas et al., 2003). This pattern of results led us tohypothesize that, when measured in a prospective community-based sample, the average trajectory in depressive symptoms fromages 18–25 will be one of decline.

With respect to global self-esteem, cross-sectional data suggesta decrease in adolescence and a gradual increase from the 20s tothe 30s (Kling, Hyde, Showers, & Buswell, 1999; Robins, Trz-esniewski, Tracy, Gosling, & Potter, 2002), but little longitudinalresearch has assessed intraindividual change in self-esteem acrossemerging adulthood. Comparing the same individuals at ages 13and 23, O’Malley and Bachman (1983) reported an increase inself-esteem. Baldwin and Hoffman (2002) followed a sample of11–16-year-olds and indicated a decrease in self-esteem by ages 16or 17 that rebounded by age 21. Roberts and Bengtson (1996)followed a group of young people (ages 16–26) for 20 years andfound that mean self-esteem had increased. Both studies (Baldwin& Hoffman, 2002; Roberts & Bengtson, 1996) are limited becausethey combined multiple birth cohorts and did not make repeatedmeasurements of self-esteem between ages 18 and 25. Schulen-berg, O’Malley, Bachman, and Johnston (2005), however, reportedthat well-being (a composite measure including self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social support) increased in a longitudinal samplefollowed from ages 18 to 24. The cross-sectional and longitudinalresults suggest an average trajectory of rising self-esteem inemerging adulthood.

A third marker of psychological well-being is the extent towhich young people refrain from expressing their anger throughloss of temper, yelling, and fighting. After all, the regulation ofemotions such as anger is important for adaptive functioning(Galambos & Costigan, 2003). Expressed anger, which is thebehavioral manifestation of anger arousal, can result in verbal orphysical abuse (Eckhardt, Norlander, & Deffenbacher, 2004). Toour knowledge, there are no multiwave longitudinal studies exam-ining expressed anger from adolescence through emerging adult-hood. Parallels can be drawn, however, with longitudinal researchon related constructs. McGue, Bacon, and Lykken (1993), forexample, found that negative emotionality (reactive stress, alien-ation, and aggression) declined in the same individuals tested atages 20 and 30. Similarly, McCrae et al. (1999) and Watson andWalker (1996) reported a decrease through the 20s in neuroticismand negative affect, respectively. Given the pattern of results

reflected in these studies, we expected expressed anger to declinein emerging adulthood.

Between-Persons Sources of Differences in Trajectories ofChange

Although psychological well-being might improve in emergingadulthood, trajectories of change are likely to differ considerablyfrom person to person (P. Cohen et al., 2003). Identifying sourcesof interindividual or between-persons differences in intraindi-vidual change is a key task for developmental scientists (Schulen-berg et al., 2003). Longitudinal data allowed us to consider howcharacteristics of the individual and his or her context in senioryear in high school relate to intraindividual changes in psycholog-ical well-being. Gender, family characteristics, and school experi-ences and performance are pinpointed as potentially importantpredictors.

The gender intensification hypothesis (Hill & Lynch, 1983)proposed the emergence or amplification of gender differences inadolescence as a result of increased socialization pressures toconform to adult gender roles. Adolescent girls’ increasing depres-sion and declining self-esteem are consistent with this hypothesis(Galambos, 2004). It is not clear, however, whether such differ-ences are maintained, amplified, or diminished in emerging adult-hood. Although the gender difference in depression is present from15 to 54 years (Kessler et al., 1994), Poulin et al. (2005) pointedto higher levels of depressive symptoms in middle compared withlater adolescence. Meta-analyses of data on gender differences inglobal self-esteem across the adolescent and adult years found asmall gender difference that peaked in adolescence and a possiblenarrowing of the gender gap in emerging adulthood (Kling et al.,1999). With respect to expressed anger, Polce-Lynch, Myers,Kliewer, and Kilmartin (2001) showed that by Grade 12, boyswere less emotionally expressive (i.e., less likely to display theiremotions) than were girls. On the other hand, where gender dif-ferences are found in the display of the specific emotion of anger,boys report higher levels (Fischer, Mosquera, van Vianen, &Manstead, 2004). These studies highlight the significance of ask-ing whether gender is related to trajectories of change in depres-sion, self-esteem, and expressed anger.

Family context likely affects these trajectories. The provision offinancial and other assistance from parents during their children’stransition to adulthood may depend on the availability of familyeconomic resources (Mitchell et al., 2004; Shanahan, Sulloway, &Hofer, 2000). Indeed, P. Cohen et al. (2003) showed that familysocioeconomic status (SES) was related to school enrollment,employment, marriage, and parenting patterns in emerging adults.The quality of relationships with parents is also important. Inadolescence, less parental support and more family conflict con-tribute to increased depression (Ge et al., 1994; Sheeber, Hops,Alpert, Davis, & Andrews, 1997), whereas close relations withparents and family are associated with increases in self-esteem(Baldwin & Hoffmann, 2002; Greene & Way, 1995). Strong ties toparents in adolescence seem to carry forward to influence youngadults’ higher psychological well-being (Holahan, Valentiner, &Moos, 1994; Roberts & Bengtson, 1993). Aseltine and Gore(1993) showed that improvements in parental support from Grade12 to 1 year postgraduation were associated with decreases indepressive symptoms.

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It is important also to consider the potential impact of schoolexperiences and performance on psychological well-being. In ad-olescence, students in more advanced or university-bound tracksmake the strongest achievement gains and have higher self-esteemcompared with those in lower tracks (Fuligni, Eccles, & Barber,1995; Oakes, 1985). Higher grades and academic competence, too,have been associated with improvements in self-esteem (Hirsch &DuBois, 1991; Rosenberg, Schooler, Schoenbach, & Rosenberg,1995; Schmidt & Padilla, 2003) but not consistently (Deihl,Vicary, & Deike, 1997). Aseltine and Gore (1993) reported thatgreater attachment to school in high school seniors was related tolowered depressive symptoms 1 year later; self-reported grades,however, were not associated with changes in symptoms. Thus, thelonger-term effects of school experiences on psychological well-being are either inconsistent or have been studied too rarely inemerging adulthood to draw clear conclusions. Considering thecentrality of school in the lives of young people, it is important toconsider how high school experiences and performance (specifi-cally, tracking, school commitment, and grades) might shape tra-jectories of depression, self-esteem, and anger in emergingadulthood.

Within-Person Sources of Differences in Trajectories ofChange

P. Cohen et al. (2003) argued that understanding development inemerging adulthood requires the inclusion of time-varying covari-ates of individual trajectories. In the current study, changes insocial support and role statuses are examined as they covary withdepression, self-esteem, and anger trajectories. Social support isimportant because it is consistently related to psychological well-being through its ability to buffer the individual from the negativeeffects of stress (S. Cohen, 2004). In two studies, support frompeers seemed to play a significant role in influencing trajectories ofself-esteem in early and middle adolescence (Deihl et al., 1997;Hirsch & DuBois, 1991). In addition, Galambos et al. (2004) foundthat decreases in social support across 2 and 4 years were relatedto increases in depressive symptoms during these same intervals inadolescence and emerging adulthood. These results suggest thatchanging levels of social support across emerging adulthoodshould be charted to determine how they relate to fluctuations indepression, self-esteem, and anger expression. It is likely thatwhen social support increases, young people will show lowerlevels of depression, higher levels of self-esteem, and less angerexpression.

Whether the young person lives with parents is a role status thatmay be linked to changes in depression, self-esteem, and anger.Leaving the parental home may be a way to reduce anxieties andconflict resulting from problematic family relations (Mitchell etal., 2004). Several studies indicate that leaving home is associatedwith improved relations with parents (Aseltine & Gore, 1993;Graber & Brooks-Gunn, 1996a; Smetana, Metzger, & Campione-Barr, 2004). Moreover, an improved relationship with parents inthe year after high school was related to lowered levels of depres-sion (Aseltine & Gore, 1993). Thus, leaving home is expected tohave positive effects on psychological well-being.

P. Cohen et al. (2003) identified school enrollment as an im-portant role status of emerging adulthood. Specifically, attendingschool or university was connected with earlier residential andfinancial independence in participants followed from ages 17–27.

Given that such independence is a desirable goal for emergingadults (Arnett, 2000), postsecondary education should be linkedpositively with psychological well-being. Indeed, panel data fromthe Monitoring the Future project indicated that there was a gen-eral increase in well-being between ages 18 and 24, with well-being the highest among unmarried students who lived away fromhome and had no children. Moreover, whereas well-being leveledoff between ages 22 and 24 for many participants, it increasedacross the same interval among unmarried, childless individualsstill enrolled in full-time education (and not working) at age 24(Schulenberg et al., 2005).

Finding gainful employment and the means to financial inde-pendence are important developmental tasks that typically takeplace in emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000; Schulenberg et al.,2005). There is clear evidence from previous research that theinability to find employment is detrimental to psychological well-being in young people. Fergusson, Horwood, and Lynskey (1997),for example, found that 18-year-olds who had left school andreported 6 or more months of unemployment were at a signifi-cantly higher risk of experiencing a psychiatric disorder (e.g.,major depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders) than theircounterparts who were employed. Duration of unemployment wasrelated to the risk of psychiatric disorder even after controlling forpersonal and family characteristics that were associated with thelikelihood of unemployment. Other research also indicates thatyoung people’s experiences of unemployment and underemploy-ment lead to increased depression (Dooley, Prause, & Ham-Rowbottom, 2000; Hartnagel & Krahn, 1995) and reduced self-esteem (Goldsmith, Veum, & Darity, 1997; Prause & Dooley,1997). Thus, extended periods of unemployment should be asso-ciated with decreases in psychological well-being.

Marriage is a role transition that can be associated with higherpsychological well-being. Specifically, Roberts and Bengtson(1993) found that being employed and being married buffered thenegative effects of low parent–child affection on self-esteem in theadolescent and early adult years as well as on self-esteem anddepression 14 years later. In the Monitoring the Future project, thetransition to marriage in emerging adulthood was related to in-creases in psychological well-being as well as to decreases inalcohol, marijuana, and cocaine use (Bachman et al., 2002; Schu-lenberg et al., 2005). The association between marriage and sub-jective well-being is robust across different populations and cannotbe explained by a simple selection effect (Lucas, Clark, Georgellis,& Diener, 2003). Getting married during emerging adulthood islikely to be associated with a decrease in depression and anger andan increase in self-esteem.

The Current Study

Studies that only follow individuals for 1 or 2 years beyond highschool (e.g., Aseltine & Gore, 1993) or that track multiple-agecohorts (e.g., Baldwin & Hoffman, 2002) obscure identification ofspecific trajectories through the critical years (ages 18–25) ofemerging adulthood (Merikangas et al., 2003). To understandintraindividual change, it is important for researchers to followindividuals within the same birth cohort (Shanahan et al., 2000),but such studies in emerging adulthood are in short supply. Alsovery rare are studies that track psychological well-being in largesamples for five or more waves across this period (Trzesniewski,Donnellan, & Robins, 2003). The current study attempts to address

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these limitations through the use of data collected from a singlecohort of high school students who were assessed once during theirsenior year in high school and on four more occasions throughage 25.

Our aims were to examine (a) the average developmental tra-jectories of change in depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and ex-pressed anger across the 7-year period; (b) between-persons pre-dictors of developmental trajectories in depression, self-esteem,and expressed anger, including gender, family characteristics(SES, conflict with parents), and school experiences and perfor-mance (academic track, school commitment, grades); and (c) howdevelopmental trajectories of depression, self-esteem, and ex-pressed anger covaried with changes in social support and rolestatuses (living with parents, full-time postsecondary schooling,months unemployed in previous 12 months, marriage).

On the basis of previous research, we expected self-esteem toincrease and depressive symptoms and expressed anger to decreaseon average in emerging adulthood. We left open how gender mightaffect these trajectories, as there was too little previous researchfrom which to form directional hypotheses. We expected to findthat family and school would be between-persons sources ofdifferential trajectories in psychological well-being. Specifically,higher family SES and lower levels of parent–adolescent conflictat age 18 should make the transition to adulthood easier; thus,these family characteristics ought to be associated with improvingtrajectories of psychological well-being. Experiences that are in-dicative of success in school (being in an academic track, feelingcommitted to school, higher grades) were also expected to beassociated with increasing well-being, as feelings of academiccompetence might arm adolescents as they attempt to cope withthe challenging transition to adulthood. Finally, we hypothesizedthat intraindividual changes in social support and role statuseswould be associated with intraindividual changes in psychologicalwell-being. In particular, increased levels of social support, leavinghome, enrollment in full-time postsecondary education, and get-ting married were expected to be connected with improved psy-chological well-being, whereas longer periods of unemploymentwere expected to be linked with decreased well-being.

Method

Sample

In the final months of the 1984–1985 school year, 983 Grade 12 students(M age � 18.21, SD � 0.82) in six high schools in a large westernCanadian city completed questionnaires in class that asked about theirschool and work experiences, values, goals, relationships with family andfriends, and personal well-being. The six schools comprised more than half(6/11) of all the public high schools in the city and were chosen to representa cross-section of middle- and working-class neighborhoods. The surveyrespondents were selected from a mix of academic and vocational classesor programs within the schools; students in 66 classes were targeted.Virtually all students present in class on the testing day participated (i.e.,there were very few refusals). The members of this community samplewere invited to provide their name and address and additional contactinformation, so that they could be retested in the future. More than 90%volunteered to remain in this longitudinal study of school–work transitionsand youth–adult transitions.1 Every effort was made to ensure that thesample was representative of the city’s Grade 12 population in the publicschool system (for further details, see Krahn, Mosher, & Johnson, 1993;Lowe, Krahn, & Tanner, 1988).

A year later, these 894 young people (now age 19) were sent a follow-upquestionnaire that repeated many of the previous questions but also in-

cluded new questions about postsecondary education, posthigh schoolemployment and unemployment experiences, and role transitions (e.g.,leaving home, marrying, becoming a parent). After several reminder mail-ings and some additional telephone calls, 665 of the original study partic-ipants completed and returned their questionnaire. In 1987, 547 partici-pated (now age 20). By 1989 (age 22), the number of individuals who hadparticipated in all four waves of data collection had declined to 503. By1992 (age 25), the 404 young adults who had provided information at allfive waves represented 41% of the original 1985 sample of 983 but aslightly higher proportion (45%) of those who had provided contact infor-mation 7 years earlier.

At age 18, 52% of the study participants were men (by 1992, this figurehad declined to 44%). Four out of 5 (80%) of the 1985 sample memberswere born in Canada; the remainder had been born in a wide range of othercountries and had then immigrated to Canada with their parents. Fifteenpercent (of the participants at age 19)2 indicated that they were non-Whitein terms of ethnic origin. At age 18, in response to a question about theirparents’ financial situation, 9% of the sample members said it was belowaverage, 51% said it was average, and 39% said that their family financialsituation was above average (1% did not answer). Data also revealed that10% of the teenage study participants came from families in which bothparents had a university degree, whereas 16% reported that one parent hadcompleted university. Although these are crude measures of family SES,these findings suggest that the sample was representative of the socioeco-nomic diversity of the community from which it was obtained.

In Canada, postsecondary institutions include universities (which grantdegrees) and colleges and vocational–technical schools (which grant di-plomas or certificates). Regarding the educational activity of the sample,almost half moved into the postsecondary system directly following Grade12 in the fall of 1986 (30% in university, 17% in other postsecondaryinstitutions), but 27% also returned to high school to complete theirprogram, upgrade their marks so that they would be more competitive inapplying to postsecondary institutions, or participate in 1 more year of highschool sports or other extracurricular activities. At the time, high schools inthe province typically accommodated such decisions, and it was relativelycommon for students to take advantage of this opportunity. A year later, bythe fall of 1987, two thirds of the sample was in the postsecondary system(37% in university, 28% in other postsecondary institutions). By age 25,69% had earned some kind of postsecondary credential (30% had auniversity degree, 14% had a college diploma, and 24% had a technicalschool diploma).

Because of cumulative missing data, all analyses in this article are basedon slightly smaller sample sizes, namely, 920 at age 18, 633 at age 19, 521at age 20, 481 at age 22, and 384 at age 25. A series of t tests compareddepression, self-esteem, and anger scores at all earlier ages for those whowere present and those who were missing at a particular age. In none ofthese 30 comparisons was the mean for the present participants signifi-cantly different from the mean for the dropouts, thus indicating thatdropouts did not show poorer or better psychological well-being. Theseresults support the missing at random criterion, which is an importantassumption underlying the estimation of trajectories (Raudenbush & Bryk,2002; Singer & Willett, 2003). These analyses were rerun separately forwomen and men (30 tests for each). There were a few statistically signif-icant findings, but overall the pattern of nonsignificant findings led us toconclude that cases were missing at random.

1 The longitudinal survey design and the questionnaire had been previ-ously approved by a university research ethics committee. Parental consentwas obtained for the participation of students who were not yet 18 years ofage. For additional information about this research program, see http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/transition/.

2 This figure is based on data collected at age 19 because the researchteam was not allowed to ask about ethnicity in school at age 18.

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We further examined attrition by correlating between-persons predictorsat age 18 (gender, family characteristics, school-related experiences) withthe number of waves of participation. Correlations ( p � .05) showed thatparticipants who remained in the study for longer were more likely to befemale (r � �.13), have university-educated parents (r � .07), be in anacademic (university-stream) track (r � .22), and have higher self-reportedgrades (r � .15). Finally, correlations of social support and role statuses(living with parents, months in full-time postsecondary education, monthsunemployed, and marital status) at each age with the number of waves ofparticipation revealed one consistent association. Specifically, participantswho lived with their parents at any age were more likely to remain in thestudy (rs between .09 and .15, p � .05). In the analyses to follow, all caseswith data available at one or more points in time were used. The inclusionof observed predictors of attrition in the analyses and the use of allavailable time points for participants reduces the possibility of bias andpermits valid generalizations (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002; Singer & Wil-lett, 2003).

Measures

Time was coded as the number of years that had passed since age 18,thus reflecting the uneven spacing of the intervals between occasions.Specifically, time was coded as follows: age 18 (0), age 19 (1), age 20 (2),age 22 (4), and age 25 (7). Gender was coded as 0 (female) or 1 (male).

Psychological well-being. Depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and ex-pressed anger were assessed at all five ages. Depressive symptoms weremeasured with the mean of four items from the Center for EpidemiologicalStudies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977). Participants indicated“how often in the past few months” they “felt depressed,” “felt lonely,”“talked less than usual,” and “felt people were unfriendly” on a scaleranging from 1 (never) to 5 (almost always). These items represented threeof four domains covered by the CES-D: depressed affect (depressed andlonely), somatic activity (talked less), and interpersonal rejection (peopleunfriendly). Most studies of depression use more CES-D items. However,additional analysis of data from a study of middle-aged adults and their15-year-old children (Galambos & Almeida, 1994) revealed that the cor-relation between this four-item scale and the full 20-item scale was .88 foradult women, adult men, and adolescent females, and it was .84 foradolescent males. These correlations indicate that the shorter scale is agood proxy for the complete scale. Cronbach’s alpha for this subset ofitems ranged from .68 to .73 across the five waves.

Self-esteem was assessed with the mean of six items from Rosenberg’s(1989) Self-Esteem Scale. Participants rated these items (e.g., “On thewhole I am satisfied with myself” “I feel that I have a number of goodqualities”) on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).Alphas ranged from .75 to .78 across five waves.

The mean of four items measured the extent to which participants feltand expressed angry feelings. On the basis of selected items from a largermeasure of psychological well-being (Petersen & Kellam, 1977), partici-pants were asked “How often in the past few months have you . . . .” “feltangry,” “lost your temper,” “yelled at people,” and “got into fights orarguments.” These items were rated on a scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5(almost always). Items pertaining to feeling angry or irritated, experiencingoutbursts and loss of temper, and yelling and fighting reflect the affectiveand behavioral components of anger and are common in scales used toassess anger expression (e.g., Buss & Perry, 1992; Eckhardt et al., 2004;Sigfusdottir, Farkas, & Silver, 2004). Alphas across the five waves rangedbetween .82 and .84.

Family. Two indicators of family characteristics at age 18 were parenteducation (an indicator of family SES) and conflict with parents. Parenteducation was coded as the number of parents who held a universitydegree: 0 (no university degree), 1 (one parent with a university degree),and 2 (two parents with a university degree). The mean was 0.37 (SD �0.66). This measure of SES was used because, on the basis of experiencesurveying teenagers, we believe that participants’ reports of parents’ uni-versity education are considerably more reliable than their estimates of

parents’ income or even their knowledge about parents’ specific occupa-tion or employment situation.

To assess the frequency of conflict with parents, we asked participants,“In the past few months, how often would you say that you have haddisagreements with your parents(s) or guardian about . . . .” Ten areas ofparent–adolescent conflict (e.g., “school (including homework),” “spend-ing money,” “your choice of friends,” “dating,” “your appearance (clothesor hairstyle),” “household chores,” and “the time you come in at night”)were then rated on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (almost always). These orvery similar items commonly appear in conflict frequency scales andreflect the main sources of everyday parent–adolescent disagreements (e.g.,Montemayor, 1983; Prinz, Foster, Kent, & O’Leary, 1979; Smetana, 1989).Moreover, conflict frequency measures that are based on a slate of specificissues are more sensitive to changes in parent–adolescent relations overtime than are global ratings of conflict (Laursen, Coy, & Collins, 1998).The mean frequency of conflict was calculated. Cronbach’s alpha for the10 items was .83 (M � 2.12, SD � 0.70).

School. Three school-related variables were assessed at age 18. Aca-demic track indicated whether the participant was in a nonacademic track(e.g., business, vocational, trades and services), coded as 0, or an academictrack (i.e., university-stream courses), coded as 1 (M � 0.63, SD � 0.48;nonacademic � 37%; academic � 63%). School commitment was mea-sured with the mean of six items, modeled after a scale constructed byMurdock and Phelps (1973). Sample items are “Overall, I have enjoyed mytime in high school” “Most of the classes at school are a complete waste oftime” (reverse coded) and “Continuing my education will help me get agood job.” The items were rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to5 (strongly agree). Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was .59. The mean wascalculated, with higher scores indicating more commitment (M � 3.65,SD � .63). Self-reported grades were measured by asking participants “Onaverage, what have your grades been like this past school year?” Responseswere 1 (mainly As; 80% or above), 2 (mainly Bs; 70% to 79%), 3 (mainlyCs; 60% to 69%), 4 (mainly Ds; 50% to 59%), or 5 (mainly Fs; under50%). This item was reverse scored so that a higher score indicated bettergrades (M � 3.30, SD � 0.88).

Social support and role statuses. Time-varying covariates assessed atall five ages included social support and four role statuses (living withparents, postsecondary education, unemployment, marriage). For socialsupport, participants were asked “When you have problems, how much canyou rely on each of the following people for help?” At age 18, “mother,”“father,” “other family members,” “friends,” and “others” were included aspossible sources. At age 19, “spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend” was added tocapture the expanding social network. At ages 20, 22, and 25, “people atwork” joined the previous roster. The extent to which each source providedsocial support was rated on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 (don’t have sucha person or not at all) to 3 (very much). A social support score wasgenerated by taking the mean for the items available at each age. Auto-correlations of social support across all (1–7-year) intervals of the studyranged from .41 (7 years) to .57 (3 years), providing evidence for thereliability of the measure.

Living with parents was coded as 0 (not living with parent) or 1(currently living with parent). The percentages living with a parent were93, 87, 81, 59, and 32 for ages 18–25, respectively. The number of monthsattending school full time in the previous year indicated the participant’sfull-time postsecondary education status at ages 19–25. This variable wasfixed at zero at age 18 (because all respondents were in high school at thetime). Unemployment was indicated by the number of months unemployed(defined as not having a job and actively seeking work) in each previousyear at ages 19–25. Unemployment was fixed to zero at age 18. Althoughroughly half of 18-year-olds indicated that, at some previous time, they hadwanted a job but could not find one, we distinguish these teenage job-finding experiences as distinct and not as serious as periods of unemploy-ment they encountered after high school. Marriage was coded as 0 (notcurrently married) or 1 (married). For ages 18–25, the percentage ofmarried participants was 1%, 4%, 7%, 21%, and 43%, respectively. Few

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participants were separated or divorced during the course of the study (1case at ages 18, 19, and 20; 3 at age 22; and 7 by age 25).

Results

Means and standard deviations for the outcome variables and thetime-varying covariates at all five ages are presented in Table 1. At themean level, depressive symptoms and expressed anger appear todecrease between ages 18 and 25, whereas self-esteem appears toincrease. The means for social support are similar at all ages. Meansfor the role statuses indicate that across time, fewer participants livedwith parents and were enrolled in full-time postsecondary education,whereas more participants married. Unemployment was variable.

Autocorrelations for the three outcome variables for the total sam-ple across time were all significant ( p � .001) and ranged from .35 to.52 for depressive symptoms (median r � .46), .45 to .61 for self-esteem (median r � .55), and .34 to .57 for expressed anger (medianr � .44). For all three outcome measures, the lowest autocorrelationsoccurred across the longest interval (between ages 18 and 25); higherautocorrelations were generally found for adjacent ages.

Within-time intercorrelations among the outcome measures forthe total sample were all significant ( p � .001). Higher self-esteemwas associated with lower depression (range in r � �.46 to �.59)and with less expressed anger (range in r � �.20 to �.37).Depressive symptoms and expressed anger were positively corre-lated (range in r � .31 to .41). To examine whether depression,self-esteem, and anger were independent constructs, we submittedall three measures across all ages (a total of 15 variables) to aprincipal-components analysis with varimax rotation. Three dis-tinct factors emerged: depressive symptoms (with loadings ranging

from .41 to .76), self-esteem (with loadings ranging from .54 to.82), and expressed anger (with loadings ranging from .53 to .80).

Data were analyzed with multilevel modeling using the hierar-chical linear modeling (HLM) program (Raudenbush & Bryk,2002). Multilevel modeling is a data analysis technique allowingfor the examination of between-persons differences (e.g., gender)in within-person trajectories (e.g., change in depressive symp-toms). The HLM program calculates a separate within-personmodel of regression intercepts and slopes for each person. Then abetween-persons model is estimated in which the within-personslopes and intercepts are treated as dependent variables regressedon person-level predictor variables.

For illustrative purposes, the simple form of a multilevel modelcan be conceived of as two separate models, one a within-personmodel (Level 1) and the other a between-persons model (Level 2).Equation 1 expresses depressive symptoms for person j across ioccasions as a function of initial levels of depressive symptoms,�0j; the linear time slope, �1j; and a random error component, eij:

Level 1: Depressive Symptomsij � �0j � �1j �Time� � eij. (1)

Equations 2 and 3 model the between-persons effect of genderon initial levels of depressive symptoms at age 18 (i.e., the inter-cept; Equation 2) and the effect of gender on linear change indepressive symptoms across emerging adulthood (i.e., the slope;Equation 3). Specifically, Equation 2 models initial levels ofdepressive symptoms for person j, �0j, as a function of the meanfor depressive symptoms of all participants at study onset, �00;plus the between-persons effect of gender, �01; and a random errorcomponent, r0j. In Equation 3, trajectories of depressive symp-

Table 1Means and Standard Deviations for Outcome Variables and Time-Varying Covariates by Age (inYears)

Variable

Age

18 19 20 22 25

M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD

OutcomeDepressive symptoms

Total 2.74 0.66 2.73 0.63 2.72 0.63 2.56 0.62 2.46 0.66Women 2.88 0.67 2.79 0.64 2.76 0.64 2.60 0.61 2.47 0.68Men 2.63 0.63 2.66 0.60 2.66 0.63 2.52 0.62 2.45 0.63

Self-esteemTotal 3.88 0.64 3.86 0.62 3.93 0.64 4.01 0.64 4.04 0.64Women 3.75 0.66 3.81 0.65 3.87 0.64 3.99 0.63 4.04 0.63Men 3.99 0.60 3.91 0.59 3.99 0.62 4.02 0.66 4.05 0.66

Expressed angerTotal 2.61 0.80 2.56 0.74 2.49 0.74 2.34 0.69 2.26 0.70Women 2.72 0.81 2.63 0.76 2.61 0.73 2.43 0.71 2.32 0.70Men 2.53 0.79 2.49 0.72 2.37 0.73 2.24 0.67 2.19 0.70

CovariateSocial support 1.54 0.60 1.66 0.54 1.58 0.52 1.55 0.55 1.58 0.51Living with parents 0.93 0.25 0.87 0.34 0.81 0.39 0.59 0.49 0.32 0.47Postsecondary education — 4.19 4.09 4.38 4.03 3.90 4.10 1.41 3.14Unemployment — 1.23 2.61 1.13 2.32 0.58 1.49 0.85 2.21Marriage 0.01 0.09 0.04 0.21 0.07 0.26 0.21 0.41 0.43 0.50

Total N a 920 629–633 520–521 478–481 382–384Female N a 432 315 271 251–253 214Male N a 488 314–315 249–250 227–228 169

Note. Dashes indicate that the variable was fixed at zero.a For outcome variables.

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toms, �1j, are modeled as a function of mean growth rate, �10; plusthe effect of gender, �11; and random error, r1j:

Level 2: �0j � �00 � �01 �Gender� � r0j (2)

�1j � �10 � �11 �Gender� � r1j. (3)

For each of the three outcomes, depression, self-esteem, andanger, three models were examined. In the first, the unconditionalmeans or random-intercept model (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002;Singer & Willett, 2003), no predictors were entered; the analysissimply partitions variance in the outcome into two components(between-persons and within-person). In the second, the uncondi-tional growth model, the linear rate of change for each outcomewas tested (preliminary analyses indicated the quadratic time slopewas not significant for any of the three outcomes and so was notincluded in the models reported here). In the third, the full model,the between-persons effects of gender, family characteristics, andschool variables on initial status and linear rate of change weretested together. For all analyses, continuous predictors at Level 1and Level 2 were grand mean-centered. A strength of the HLMprogram is that all 920 individuals are included in the analysis.Cases with complete data on the outcome measures are weightedmore heavily, but as long as one occasion of measurement isavailable, the case is used in the estimation of effects.

Depressive Symptoms

The unconditional means model determined that 46% of thevariation in depression was between-persons (54% was within-person). The unconditional growth model for depressive symptomsshowed that the average initial level of depressive symptoms was2.75 (SE � 0.02) and that, on average, there was a significantdecrease in depressive symptoms over time (coefficient � �.04,SE � .00, p � .05). Chi-square tests of the variance componentsfor depressive symptoms indicated that there was significant vari-ation in initial levels of depressive symptoms, �2(619, N � 620) �1,883.50, p � .05, and significant variation in the time slope of

depressive symptoms, �2(619, N � 620) � 853.22, p � .05,justifying the exploration of both Level 1 and Level 2 predictors ofvariation in depression. The correlation between initial status, �0j,and rate of change, �1j, was calculated (i.e., the population co-variance of the Level 2 residuals was divided by the square root ofthe product of its associated variance components; Singer & Wil-lett, 2003). The correlation was �.40, indicating that higher de-pressive symptoms at age 18 were associated with a steeperdecline in depressive symptoms across emerging adulthood.

Results for the full model (see Table 2) indicated significant effectsof gender on initial status and rate of change in depressive symptoms.Depressive symptoms were higher at age 18 and declined morerapidly across emerging adulthood for women compared with men(see Figure 1). In order to test whether the gender difference at age 25was significant, we ran an analysis in which time was recoded so thatthe intercept for depressive symptoms was located at age 25. Thegender difference in depression at age 25 was not significant, t(918) ��0.82, p � .41. Turning back to the full model, results showed thatdepressive symptoms declined more rapidly among emerging adultswhose parents had higher levels of education. Figure 2 illustrates thisfan-spread phenomenon, in which parent education was not related toinitial levels of depressive symptoms but was a source of differentialtrajectories in depressive symptoms to age 25. Increased conflict withparents at age 18 predicted higher levels of depressive symptomsconcurrently and faster rates of decline in depressive symptoms acrossemerging adulthood (see Figure 3). Although lower school commit-ment was related to higher depression at age 18, it was not related tothe rate of change in depressive symptoms. Academic track andgrades were not related to initial levels or rates of change indepression.

Self-Esteem

The unconditional means model determined that 53% of thevariation in self-esteem was between-persons (47% was within-person). Results for the unconditional growth model indicated thatthe average initial level of self-esteem was 3.87 (SE � 0.02). Over

Table 2Multilevel Results of the Between-Persons Effects of Gender, Family, and School on InitialStatus and Rate of Change in Depressive Symptoms, Self-Esteem, and Anger (Full Model)

Variable

Depressive symptoms Self-esteem Expressed anger

Coefficient SE Coefficient SE Coefficient SE

Initial status (age 18) 2.90* .04 3.69* .04 2.74* .05Gender �.21* .04 .22* .04 �.17* .05Parent education .02 .03 .06* .03 .02 .04Conflict with parents .18* .03 �.18* .03 .31* .04Academic track �.06 .04 .07 .04 �.07 .05School commitment �.15* .03 .09* .03 �.10* .04Grades �.06 .04 .07* .02 �.02 .03

Rate of change �.05* .01 .03* .01 �.04* .01Gender .02* .01 �.03* .01 .01 .01Parent education �.02* .01 �.00 .01 �.02 .01Conflict with parents �.02* .01 .01 .01 �.03* .01Academic track .00 .01 .01 .01 �.01 .01School commitment .01 .01 �.00 .01 .01 .01Grades .00 .01 �.00 .01 �.01 .01

Note. N � 920.* p � .05.

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time, there was a significant increase in self-esteem (coeffi-cient � .03, SE � .00, p � .05). Chi-square tests of the variancecomponents for self-esteem showed that there was significantvariation in initial levels of self-esteem, �2(619, N � 620) �

2,099.79, p � .05, and significant variation in the self-esteemtime slope, �2(619, N � 620) � 793.72, p � .05, to bepredicted. The correlation between initial status, �0j, and rate ofchange, �1j, in self-esteem was �.22; lower self-esteem at age

Figure 2. Parent education as a source of differing rates of change in depressive symptoms.

Figure 1. The gender difference in initial level and rate of change in depressive symptoms.

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18 was associated with a greater increase in self-esteem acrossemerging adulthood.

The significant effects of gender on initial status and rate ofchange in self-esteem are shown in the full model (see Table 2).Self-esteem was lower among women compared with men at age18 but increased more rapidly among women compared with menacross emerging adulthood (see Figure 4). An analysis to examinethe gender difference at age 25 revealed that self-esteem did notdiffer for men and women, t(918) � 0.55, p � .58. The full modelrevealed that both greater parental education and less conflict withparents at age 18 predicted higher levels of concurrent self-esteem;neither variable predicted change in self-esteem across emergingadulthood. Higher school commitment and grades significantlypredicted self-esteem at age 18, but none of the school variablespredicted change in self-esteem over time.

Expressed Anger

The unconditional means model found that 44% of the variationin anger was between-persons (56% was within-person). Resultsfor the unconditional growth model revealed that the averageinitial level of expressed anger was 2.61 (SE � 0.02). There wasa significant decrease in expressed anger on average across emerg-ing adulthood (coefficient � �.05, SE � .01, p � .05). Chi-squaretests of the variance components for expressed anger showed therewas significant variation in initial levels, �2(619, N � 620) �2,078.33, p � .05, and rate of change, �2(619, N � 620) � 885.89,p � .05, to be predicted. The correlation between initial status, �0j,and rate of change, �1j, in expressed anger was �.65; greater

expressed anger at age 18 was associated with a steeper decline inexpressed anger across emerging adulthood.

The full model (see Table 2) showed that expressed anger washigher at age 18 among women compared with men. Gender wasnot related to rate of change in expressed anger, however. Greaterconflict with parents at age 18 predicted higher levels of concur-rent expressed anger and steeper declines in expressed angeracross emerging adulthood (see Figure 5). As shown in the fullmodel, lower school commitment was associated with higher lev-els of expressed anger at age 18, but none of the school variablespredicted change in expressed anger over time.

Within-Person Sources of Variability in Depression, Self-Esteem, and Anger

Within-person effects of social support, living with parents,months of postsecondary education, months of unemployment, andmarriage were tested for each outcome. Restrictions limiting thenumber of parameters that can be tested at Level 1 prevented usfrom testing all time-varying covariates together. Therefore, eachpredictor was added separately to Level 1 of the full model foreach outcome. As an example, Equation 4 expresses depressivesymptoms for person j across i occasions as a function of initiallevels of depressive symptoms, �0j; the linear time slope, �1j; theeffect of social support, �2j; and a random error component, eij:

Level 1:Depressive Symptomsij � �0j � �1j �Time�

� �2j �Social Support� � eij. (4)

Figure 3. Parent–adolescent conflict (age 18) as a source of differences in initial level and rate of change indepressive symptoms. Average trajectories are plotted for average (at the mean), high (1 SD above the mean),and low (1 SD below the mean) levels of conflict.

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In addition, cross-level Gender � Within-Person predictor in-teractions were tested by entering gender at Level 2 as a between-persons predictor of the effect of each time-varying covariate ondepressive symptoms (Equation 3 presents an example of a cross-level interaction between gender and time). Results are shown inTable 3.

Greater social support, fewer months of unemployment, andbeing married each predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms.In other words, changes in the direction of more social support,less unemployment, and marriage were associated with shifts inthe trajectory of depressive symptoms toward lower levels. Theassociation between social support and depressive symptoms wasstronger for women compared with men (coefficient � .10, SE �.05, p � .05). In no case did the addition of a time-varyingcovariate to the full model for depressive symptoms substantivelyalter any of the other (significant or nonsignificant) results re-ported in Table 2.

When added to the full model for self-esteem, greater socialsupport and fewer months of unemployment were associated withhigher self-esteem. Improvements in self-esteem were associatedwith the acquisition of more social support and less unemploy-ment. When social support was added to the full model at Level 1,the effect of academic track on initial level of self-esteem becamesignificant (coefficient � .09, SE � .04, p � .05). Participants whowere in a university track had higher self-esteem than those whowere in a nonacademic track. There was no interaction of genderand social support in the prediction of self-esteem.

When the covariates were added separately to the full model forexpressed anger, only social support attained significance. That is,changes toward more social support were associated with shiftstoward less expressed anger. This association was stronger forwomen compared with men (coefficient � .14, SE � .05, p � .05).

Although living with parents was not a significant predictor ofexpressed anger, controlling for it resulted in parents’ educationbecoming a significant predictor of the rate of change in anger(coefficient � �.02, SE � .01, p � .05). Participants whoseparents were more highly educated declined in expressions ofanger at a faster rate than did those with parents who were lesshighly educated. Similarly, when marriage was added as a time-varying covariate, parents’ education emerged as a significantpredictor of the rate of change in expressed anger (coefficient ��.02, SE � .01, p � .05). A fan-spread phenomenon was found(similar to that for depressive symptoms in Figure 2), in whichinitial levels of expressed anger did not differ but expressed angerdecreased faster among individuals with two university-educatedparents compared with those whose parents were less educated.

Discussion

The average trajectories of three measures indicated that psy-chological well-being generally improved from ages 18–25 in thisschool-based community sample. Depressive symptoms and ex-pressed anger decreased, whereas self-esteem increased. Thesefindings are notable, given the striking gap in the literature onchanges in depressive symptoms from ages 20–24 (Wight et al.,2004), the general lack of knowledge about trajectories of changein psychological well-being in single cohorts of emerging adults,and the relative unavailability of research on anger expression incommunity samples of young people. The findings are consistentwith trends seen in other longitudinal data on depression (Aseltine& Gore, 1993; Merikangas et al., 2003) and self-esteem (Schul-enberg et al., 2005) as well as with cross-sectional results (e.g.,Wade & Cairney, 1997). We view these results as good news. Thatis, although the 20s may be characterized by a prolonged period in

Figure 4. The gender difference in initial level and rate of change in self-esteem.

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which there is a diversity of life choices, flirtation with indepen-dence, and experimentation with lifestyle behaviors, at least inWestern societies (Arnett, 2000), this seems to be a time duringwhich young people are coming to grips with themselves and theirlives. That they feel better about themselves and experience lessemotional upheaval as time goes on is indicative of the acquisitionof psychosocial maturity—a maturity that ought to be reached inorder to be a fully fledged, productive adult member of society.The ongoing exploration that from the outside seems to point toindecisiveness and a lack of direction may well reflect the pro-cesses of selection and optimization that lead to adaptation (see,e.g., Baltes, Lindenberger, & Staudinger, 1998).

An interesting part of this story of improved psychologicalwell-being is the apparent reversal of the gender divergence that

characterizes trajectories of depression and self-esteem in adoles-cence. In contrast to the gender intensification that occurs inadolescence, gender convergence was indicated in depressivesymptoms and self-esteem in emerging adulthood. As expected,women showed significantly higher levels of depressive symptomsand lower levels of self-esteem at age 18 than did men, but on bothindicators, women improved at a faster rate than did men by age25. Although comparable data on gender differences in trajectoriesof depressive symptoms do not appear to have been published,some longitudinal data on self-esteem find a narrowing of thegender gap after adolescence (Kling et al., 1999). Given thatemerging adults in Western society see increased decision-makingpower and independence as the most important criteria for reach-ing adulthood (Arnett, 2003), it is possible that transition-linked

Figure 5. Parent–adolescent conflict (age 18) as a source of differences in initial level and rate of change inexpressed anger. Average trajectories are plotted for average (at the mean), high (1 SD above the mean), and low(1 SD below the mean) levels of conflict.

Table 3Multilevel Results of the Within-Person Effects of Social Support and Role Statuses onDepressive Symptoms, Self-Esteem, and Expressed Anger

Covariate

Depressive symptoms Self-esteem Expressed anger

Coefficient SE Coefficient SE Coefficient SE

Social support �.26* .03 .21* .03 �.17* .04Living with parents .00 .04 �.01 .04 .00 .05Postsecondary education �.00 .00 .00 .00 �.00 .01Unemployment .02* .01 �.02* .01 .02 .01Marriage �.14* .05 .04 .04 .05 .06

Note. N � 920. Each within-person effect was tested separately by adding the covariate to the full model atLevel 1.* p � .05.

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increases in these attributes accompany increases in psychologicalwell-being. The transition through the early 20s may enhance thewell-being of women because power and independence—bothmasculine attributes—are less likely to have been a part of theiradolescent lives than it was for men (see, e.g., Galambos, Almeida,& Petersen, 1990).

Consistent with this explanation, Mirowsky (1996) revealed thatthe gender gap in depression was narrowest between ages 18 and30 and increased with each older age group. Moreover, the risinggender gap across the life span was associated with increasinggender differences in employment, housework, child care, andeconomic hardship that put women at a disadvantage. Similarly,Nomaguchi and Milkie (2003) reported that the transition to par-enthood was associated with increased housework and more mar-ital conflict in women but not in men. These results suggest thatemerging adulthood could be a relative high point in the psycho-logical well-being of young people and that the gender gap couldreemerge as women and men face life transitions that have greaterimpacts on one gender than another.

The gender difference in initial levels of expressed anger,favoring women, was puzzling, given that generally either nogender difference is found or that men report more angerexpression (Fischer et al., 2004). Because depression and angerwere positively correlated in this sample and in others (Seidlitz,Fujita, & Duberstein, 2000; Sigfusdottir et al., 2004), we testedthe hypothesis that higher depression in women was responsiblefor the gender difference in anger expression at age 18. To doso, we added depressive symptoms as a time-varying covariateat Level 1 of the full model predicting expressed anger. Thisanalysis showed that, after controlling for depression at all ages,gender was no longer significantly related to expressed anger(coefficient � �.07, SE � .04, p � .05). The only other changeresulting from controlling for depression was the disappearanceof the relation between school commitment and expressed angerat age 18.

Our second research question focused on between-personssources of variance in individual trajectories. As already dis-cussed, gender was one source of such differences. Another wasparent education (family SES). Although parent education wasunrelated to depressive symptoms and expressed anger at age18, depression and expressed anger decreased fastest amongemerging adults with two university-educated parents. As oth-ers have suggested (Mitchell et al., 2004; Shanahan et al.,2000), it is likely that more affluent middle-class parents arebetter able to assist children in making the transition to adult-hood. The support they provide can be financial, in that parentswith more economic resources may be able to pay for furthereducation, help with buying a car, and assist in setting up anindependent household, as the means for self-sufficiency isgradually acquired. Individuals from less advantaged familiesmay be in a more precarious position as emerging adulthoodunfolds, perhaps not as free to pursue their educational or careerchoices and more likely to experience potentially demoralizingfinancial stresses. Indeed, follow-up correlations of our datareveal that having university-educated parents was associatedwith participants’ full-time postsecondary education at ages 19,20, and 22 (rs between number of university-educated parentsand months spent in postsecondary education ranged from .16to .27, p � .05).

Not surprisingly, higher levels of conflict with parents at age 18were correlated with higher initial levels of depressive symptomsand expressed anger. More interesting and contrary to our hypoth-esis is the finding that individuals with the highest levels ofconflict with parents decreased fastest in depression and angeracross emerging adulthood. The net result was one in which theapparent negative influence of high conflict was much reduced byage 25. These results may reflect stability and change in relationswith parents. That is, any continuing relation between conflictfrequency at age 18 and lower psychological well-being acrossemerging adulthood could be due to (unmeasured) stability inconflict from ages 18–25. At the same time, mean-level conflictcould have decreased, which would explain improvement in de-pressive symptoms and expressed anger, even in the high-conflictgroup. In addition, as young people begin to make their ownchoices, the impact of prior family problems might lessen as otheraspects of the transition intervene.

Whereas family characteristics were sources of differences intrajectories of indicators of psychological well-being, we foundno evidence that school experiences and performance were asimportant. At age 18, there was some predictable connectionbetween school experience and psychological well-being.Higher school commitment and grades, for example, were re-lated to higher self-esteem. It could be that school-relatedvariables are more significant for future educational experi-ences than to global indicators of well-being. Rosenberg et al.(1995), for instance, found that self-reported grades were morestrongly related to specific academic self-esteem than to globalself-esteem. Two similar studies of younger adolescents showedinconsistent results with respect to school experiences andperformance as sources of trajectories in self-esteem (Deihl etal., 1997; Hirsch & DuBois, 1991). It is possible that the impactof high school wanes as individuals encounter new educationaland/or vocational experiences during the transition to adult-hood. It may be a relief to some parents that high schoolexperiences do not necessarily translate into longer-termoutcomes.

A third aim of our study was to examine how changes insocial support and role transitions such as moving out of theparents’ home were related to trajectories of depression, self-esteem, and expressed anger. We found that when social sup-port was higher, self-esteem was also higher, and depressivesymptoms and expressed anger were lower. This was especiallytrue for young women. These findings indicate that duringemerging adulthood, losses in social support are connected witha shift toward lower psychological well-being, whereas gains insuch support are associated with improved psychological func-tioning. The apparent impact of social support on varied indi-cators of psychological well-being converges with past researchillustrating its importance for physical and mental health (S.Cohen, 2004). It is possible that changes in social support mayaccompany the many life transitions that individuals makeduring emerging adulthood (P. Cohen et al., 2003). Covariationamong these transitions and changes in social support mayqualify as “transition-linked turning points,” which are experi-ences or events that have the potential to create shifts intrajectories (Graber & Brooks-Gunn, 1996b).

Two of the four role transitions explored in the current studyalso seemed to be turning points in psychological well-being:unemployment and marriage. As expected, when emerging adults

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experienced more unemployment, their depression increased andself-esteem decreased. These findings are consistent with otherresearch noting the salience of unemployment for depression andself-esteem (e.g., Dooley et al., 2000; Goldsmith et al., 1997).Given that unemployment is more likely to be experienced byyoung people between the ages of 15 and 24 than in any other agegroup (Health Canada, 1999; Krahn & Lowe, 2002), this is a cleartransition-linked experience that can pose risks to psychologicalhealth. On the other hand, reemployment is another turning pointthat can shift the individual back onto an upward trajectory inpsychological well-being (Lucas, Clark, Georgellis, & Diener,2004). Marriage was a positive turn of events associated withreduced levels of depressive symptoms in this sample. This mar-riage effect is a robust finding in the literature and is not neces-sarily simply a honeymoon effect. That is, although the averagetrend indicates that marriage provides a temporary boost in lifesatisfaction, strong positive reactions to marriage can have lastingeffects—as can strong negative reactions (Lucas et al., 2003). Ofcourse, it is possible that part of the explanation for associations ofunemployment and marriage with psychological well-being is dueto a selection effect. Individuals who are better adjusted to beginwith may be more likely to get married and to stay employed.Although large-scale studies have concluded that such selectioneffects are evident, they are small and do not explain away theeffects that unemployment (Lucas et al., 2004) and marriage(Johnson & Wu, 2002; Lucas et al., 2003) appear to have onwell-being.

Although we expected that leaving home and enrollment inpostsecondary education might be associated with changes inpsychological well-being, no significant effects were found. Thiscould be because leaving home might have indirect effects onpsychological well-being, mediated by the quality of the relation-ship with parents (see, e.g., Aseltine & Gore, 1993). If we hadrepeated measures of conflict with parents, we would have beenable to detect whether leaving home improved the relationship and,consequently, affected psychological well-being. Another possi-bility for the absence of an association between leaving home andpsychological well-being is that leaving home could be associatedwith both positive (improvements in relations with parents) andnegative (increased financial stress) experiences, thereby cancelingthe possibility of identifying a general trend in one direction.Similarly, full-time enrollment in postsecondary education may,on balance, be neither positive nor negative. Indeed, it might be thequality of experiences in the role of student that would have moreinfluence.

This study has several strengths, including a relatively largecommunity-based sample of a single grade-based cohort ofindividuals who were observed on multiple occasions as theymoved from ages 18 to 25. The fact that trajectories wereexamined for three unique but related indicators of psycholog-ical well-being is also a strength. Limitations of the studyinclude the rate of attrition across the 7-year period of the study.Although a higher retention rate would be desirable, the lossthat occurred did not appear to be selective with respect topsychological well-being. That is, the dropouts at any particularage were not more likely to show poorer or better levels ofpsychological well-being at earlier ages compared with partic-ipating individuals. Thus, we have confidence that our esti-mates for trajectories of change in depression, self-esteem, andanger are not biased. Like many longitudinal studies (e.g.,

Aseltine & Gore, 1993), however, the participants who re-mained in the study were more likely than dropouts to comefrom higher SES families and to be more academically inclined.In addition, participants who lived with their parents were morelikely to participate, probably because they were easier tocontact at follow-up. Although the inclusion of parents’ educa-tion, academic track, self-reported grades, and living with par-ents as predictors of trajectories of psychological well-beinghelps protect against bias (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002; Singer &Willett, 2003), it should be recognized that there are limits togeneralizing the results.

Another limitation is the use of a shortened scale of depressivesymptoms. A complete measure would be preferable, as this wouldallow the examination of change in severe levels of depressionover time as well as comparability with other studies. At itsextreme, depression may not decrease in emerging adulthood(Merikangas et al., 2003; Pine, Cohen, Cohen, & Brook, 1999;Wight et al., 2004), but we were unable to assess this possibility.Nevertheless, the internal consistencies of the short measure wereacceptable, and it correlated highly with the full CES-D in asample of adolescents and middle-age adults. Furthermore, ourresults of decreasing symptoms are consistent with the posthighschool decline in scores on the full 20-item CES-D, noted byAseltine and Gore (1993), and the lowered depression in highschool seniors, compared with younger students, on a 12-itemversion of the CES-D in Canadian women (Poulin et al., 2005).

Given the importance of the family context in the presentstudy, changing levels of conflict frequency and other indica-tors of relations with parents (e.g., support, parental encourage-ment of autonomy) should be assessed in future research. Thiswould enable the examination of how maturation in the parent-emerging adult relationship is reflected in trajectories of changein well-being. In addition, it would be useful to know howintensity of conflict changes in emerging adulthood andwhether there are differential relations of conflict frequency andintensity with indicators of psychological well-being. Anotherquestion awaiting future research concerns financial and othertypes of support (e.g., work, education, and career advice)provided by parents. Understanding how parents’ beliefs andbehaviors concerning such support are connected to the adjust-ment of their grown children would lead to concrete adviceabout how to make the transition to adulthood a successful one.With respect to role transitions, it is clear that unemploymentand marriage are important. It is less apparent how leavinghome and enrollment in postsecondary education may influencewell-being. More fine-grained assessments of the quality ofexperiences in the leaving home and education transitions willlead to further knowledge of the impact of these role changes onthe adaptation of emerging adults.

The results of this study were encouraging for the nature of thetransition to adulthood. On average, psychological well-being in-creased, and some striking gender gaps apparent in adolescenceappeared to decrease in magnitude. Moreover, some initial disad-vantages (e.g., parent–adolescent conflict) seemed to wane some-what over time, whereas new transitions (e.g., marriage) appearedto provide a boost in psychological functioning. Nevertheless,emerging adulthood is not a positive experience for everyone, asthere is great interindividual variability in intraindividual change.Individuals who come from lower SES families may have a hardertime making the transition, as might those who experience losses

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in social support or unemployment. It is clear that researchers willlearn more about the nature of emerging adulthood by consideringnot only average trajectories of change but also by examiningbetween-persons predictors of variation from the average as wellas time-varying covariates that reflect common transitions duringthis period.

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Received March 25, 2005Revision received October 7, 2005

Accepted October 17, 2005 �

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