Heterogeneity in Developmental Trajectories of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptomatology: Associations with Risk and Protective Factors

Among a large sample of youth (9–10 years old at baseline) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® (n = 11,661) we modeled trajectories of psychopathology over three years and associated risk and protective factors. Growth mixture modeling characterized latent classes with distinct psychopathology trajectories. Results indicated four different internalizing trajectories: a high-decreasing class, a moderate-decreasing class, a moderate-increasing class, and a low-stable class. There were also four externalizing trajectories: a moderate-decreasing class, a high-decreasing class, a moderate-increasing class, and a low-decreasing class. We used parallel process growth analysis to examine the co-development of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and characterized five trajectory classes with distinct patterns of co-development. These classes were differentially associated with negative life events, neighborhood safety, and parental acceptance. Together, the findings characterize general developmental patterns of psychopathology, quantify the proportion of youth that follow each pattern, and identify key predictors that discriminate these patterns.