Date

11-11-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Margaret Teresa GoPaul

Keywords

early life adversity, ACEs, temperament, Effortful Control, Negative Affect, Psychological Well-Being, Emotional Well-Being, Social Well-Being, late adolescence, cluster analysis, MANOVA

Disciplines

Psychiatry and Psychology

Abstract

Adolescents who experience adverse childhood adversity can and often do have different mental health and well-being outcomes. This quantitative study identified temperament-adversity profiles among late adolescents with varying levels of early life adversity and examined whether these profiles differ in emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The diathesis–stress and differential susceptibility theoretical frameworks informed the study. The 200 participants, ages 18 to 21 and living in the United States, were recruited through Prolific and completed an online Qualtrics survey containing the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, Adult Temperament Questionnaire, and Mental Health Continuum–Short Form. Hierarchical and K-means cluster analyses identified four profiles. A multivariate analysis of variance showed significant differences across emotional, social, and psychological well-being. Univariate ANOVAs and post hoc tests then examined well-being differences across profiles. The profile with lower adversity and Negative Affect and higher Effortful Control had the highest overall well-being. The profile with higher adversity and Negative Affect and lower Effortful Control had the lowest. No statistically significant well-being differences were detected between two profiles with different adversity levels but relatively similar temperament patterns. These findings suggest that adversity alone does not fully describe well-being in late adolescence.

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