Abstract

This study identified latent classes of internalizing and externalizing co-development problems and differences in delinquency and the time-varying effects of strain by class. For this purpose, we analyzed panel data of the middle school student cohort from the 2018 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey. We classified heterogeneous latent co-development types using the latent class growth model, tested the differences in delinquency using the three-step approach, and identified the effects of time-varying covariates by iterative model comparison using the likelihood ration test. The main results of this study are as follows. First, four latent internalizing and externalizing co-development problem classes were identified: low-maintaining, decreasing, increasing, and high-maintaining. Second, some of the differences in delinquency between latent classes were statistically significant. Third, the effects of peer and parental strains varied partly by time and latent class. These results show that urgent clinical intervention is needed for adolescents vulnerable to problems, general strain theory is applicable, and vulnerability to strains in terms of time-varying and person-centered perspectives.