Development of Identity and Relationships during Transitions in Adolescence

Project Information

INTRANSITION

Grant agreement ID: 773023

DOI

10.3030/773023

Project closed

EC signature date 6 April 2018

Start date 1 September 2018

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 999 960,00

EU contribution

€ 1 999 960,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - INTRANSITION (Development of Identity and Relationships during Transitions in Adolescence)

Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The INTRANSITION project aims to examine how development of identity and autonomy affect each other during school transitions in adolescence. The project will advance the field by examining intra-individual processes of change in identity and autonomy. This is crucial as inter-individual processes are not related or translatable to intra-individual processes. Often theories are examined by comparing adolescents to other adolescents, whereas the theoretical question focuses on understanding developmental changes within adolescents. To this end we apply innovative intra-individual techniques to analyze development of identity and autonomy at different time scales: real-time moment-to-moment behavior, interactions across hours and days, and long-term development. WP1 focuses on short-term intra-individual developmental processes of identity and autonomy. WP2 examines how developmental transitions affect intra-individual development of identity and autonomy. WP3 focuses on how person-environment interactions moderate intra-individual development of identity and autonomy. WP4 examines emotional and behavioral variability in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy. WP5 addresses gene-environment interactions and epigenetic processes in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy. Together, these work packages will offer a better understanding of the short-and long-term developmental processes of identity and autonomy during transitional periods, thereby allowing to better understand how these changes take place within individuals.

Understanding the factors that contribute to successful school transitions is crucial, as many adolescents experience a decline in academic performance and wellbeing after the transition to secondary and tertiary education. By focusing on the short-term intra-individual processes underlying development of identity and autonomy and interactions with significant others in this development, we will gain a better understanding of the behaviours and interactions that drive individual developmental change. Examining the role of developmental transitions in development of identity and autonomy at intra-individual level will provide important knowledge about how important life transitions affect development. The intra-individual analyses of person-environment interactions involved in development of identity and autonomy will improve our understanding of vulnerability and differential susceptibility models of human development. The work packages will provide a better understanding of why some adolescents thrive and are able to form meaningful relationships and establish values and goals that allow them to participate in society, despite living in difficult circumstances.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

For WP1, we have examined the associations between peer relations, autonomy, and internalizing problems. One published paper examined between- and within-person effects on peer victimization and friendship quality, another examined the protective role of friend support during the COVID-19 crisis, and a third examined depression socialization in early adolescent friendships . Another paper examined within-person processes of co-rumination, friendship quality, and depressive symptoms.
For WP2, we have examined the development of adolescent identity development around the school transition. The first paper examined how adolescents differ in their educational identity development across the normative transition from secondary to tertiary education. In addition, a validation paper of a questionnaire constructed for InTransition on educational identity across transition moments was published. In addition, another paper on stability and change in educational identity statuses across the secondary school transition was published.
For WP3, we have examined the development of adolescent identity in relation to life events and transitions. We published a study on identity change following impactful life events, and another on narrative identity and friendship quality. A third paper examined identity in youth with psychopathology. In addition, a paper on stability and change in educational identity statuses across the secondary school transition, and a paper on the long term impact of identity on personality change were published. Two more papers were written on the role of identity in adjustment after the transition to secondary school. The PhD student working on WP3 successfully defended her PhD in December 2022.
For WP4, several papers on emotion dynamics in parent-adolescent relationships are in progress, one focusing on synchrony in moment-to-moment interactions, and another on long-term changes in emotion dynamics in interactions, and their explanatory value for the development of emotion regulation difficulties. The coding of parent-adolescent interaction patterns of wave 1 has been completed and wave 4 is in progress. We also wrote an additional paper published in Developmental Psychology on changes in family functioning from before to during covid-19.
For WP5, we have published an article on the role of epigenetic age in the long-term associations of negative parenting and psychological problems, and a paper on the role of the COVID-19 pandemic on family relationships and adolescent mental health. We are working on a research article that investigates the associations of enduring interpersonal stressors from early to middle adolescence with DNA methylation implicated in the stress-response system during late adolescence.
We presented these findings at various national and international conferences.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In five interrelated work packages, the INTRANSITION project examined development of adolescent identity and autonomy in adolescence during school transitions by putting the individual back in development and examine short-term and long-term intraindividual processes of development during transitional periods. Each of the work packages has its own objectives. In work package 1 the focus is on short-term intra-individual processes of development of identity and autonomy. In work package 2, the role of developmental transitions in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy is examined. Work package 3 focuses on person-environment interactions in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy. Work package 4 examines emotional and behavioral variability in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy. In work package 5, gene-environment interactions and epigenetic processes in intra-individual development of identity and autonomy are examined. Each of the PhD students and postdocs wrote several English language empirical research papers, and we also wrote several review papers and book chapters. We also applied open science practices by preregistering our papers and by publishing open access. Additionally, results have been presented annually at international conferences. Expert meetings were also organized within the context of the local CAS research program. For example, expert meetings were organised in the spring of 2021 and 2022 on Narrative Identity in Vulnerable Populations.

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