A Longitudinal Investigation of Cognitive Self-schemas across Adolescent Development

• Published in: Journal of youth and adolescence 2019-03, Vol.48 (3), p.635-647
• Main Authors: McArthur, Brae Anne, Burke, Taylor A., Connolly, Samantha L., Olino, Thomas M., Lumley, Margaret N., Abramson, Lyn Y., Alloy, Lauren B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescent Development; Adolescents; African Americans; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Caregivers; Child; Child and School Psychology; Childrearing practices; Children; Clinical Psychology; Cognition; Cognitive development; Empirical Research; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Health Psychology; History of Psychology; Humans; Law and Psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Memory; Mothers; Multiracial people; Parent participation; Parent-Child Relations; Parenting - psychology; Parents; Parents & parenting; Prospective Studies; Psychology; Self Concept; Teenagers; Youth
• ISSN: 0047-2891; 1573-6601
• DOI: 10.1007/s10964-018-00981-1

Research in developmental psychology highlights youth’s self-schemas as one possible pathway to improve adolescents’ functioning and promote positive developmental outcomes. Despite this, the trajectory of positive and negative self-schemas is relatively understudied. This study addresses this limitation by empirically examining the trajectory of self-schemas in a community sample of 623 youth ( M  = 13.04 years; 54% female; 49% African American, 4% Biracial, 47% European American) who were followed over a seven-year period. Caregivers completed measures of parenting practices, maternal rumination and negative inferential style, and adolescents completed a computerized behavioral task assessing self-schemas (i.e., mental frameworks that guide attention, interpretation, and memory of one’s experiences). Multilevel growth curve modeling results demonstrated a quadratic slope for negative self-schemas and no mean-level change for positive self-schemas. These trajectories did not vary by gender or racial group. However, parenting factors differentially influenced the trajectories. Specifically, higher levels of parental involvement at baseline, or an active interest and engagement in a child’s experiences and activities, related to lower levels of negative self-schemas during adolescence. Additionally, higher levels of parental rumination and parental negative control at baseline related to lower levels of youth positive self-schemas at baseline. These findings contribute to models of youth cognitive development.