Early Frustration Predicting Trajectories of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms: Testing Coping as a Mediator

Abstract

Early childhood frustration is a significant predictor of adolescent mental health outcomes. To understand developmental pathways leading to impairment and inform early intervention, it is essential to identify mediating factors that contribute to these trajectories. Coping style is a key predictor of youth adjustment and may be shaped by temperament. Children prone to frustration tend to react to environmental stressors with heightened frustration and struggle with adaptive coping. This dissertation examines coping strategies in preadolescence (ages 10–12) as potential mediators in the relation between early childhood frustration (ages 3–5) and adolescent psychopathology (ages 13–15) using latent growth curve modeling. Findings indicate that early childhood frustration predicts levels of externalizing symptoms and both levels and growth of internalizing symptoms. However, active and avoidant coping did not mediate this relation. These results suggest that other factors drive this developmental trajectory, highlighting the need for further research to better support at-risk youth.