Who Can Handle the Seasons of Her Life? Predictors of Perceived Life Disruption During the Adolescent Transition

Abstract

The present study investigates the underlying cognitive, social, and behavioral tendencies that may explain why some girls are more likely to perceive the transition from childhood to adolescence as disrupting and difficult. N = 188 girls (Mage = 11.70 years) reported on their level of pubertal development, rumination, rejection sensitivity, and peer relationships at two time points. Structural equation modeling results suggested that girls prone to rumination and angry rejection sensitivity were most likely to report their lives as significantly disrupted from the way it was one year prior. These tendencies better explained perceptions of life disruption than overall levels of pubertal development. These findings are the first to characterize longitudinal predictors of perceived life disruption for girls and have important implications for well-being intervention efforts during the early adolescent period.