The
primary aims of this study are (1) to understand the contribution of
individual differences in emotional regulation on personality development and
psychopathology risk during adolescence, and (2) to identify the role of
personality as a risk or protective factor in the context of a major
developmental transition from middle to high school, (3) to describe these
relationships in an under-studied population of rural, ethnic minority
children, and American Indian adolescents in particular. The proposed study
involves a short-term longitudinal follow-up of American Indian adolescents
who live in rural North Carolina. The initial wave of the study assesses a
variety of individual, familial, and cultural variables among students who
attend ethnically homogeneous public middle schools in the community. The
second wave of the assessment will occur when the students have moved on to
the large and ethnically diverse public high school in the county. Of
interest, is to identify whether temperament and identity development can
predict successful transition (including avoidance of negative peer
influences, continued academic achievement, growth in social capital, and
mental health) during this period of rapid change in both individual
development and educational context.
