Using a person-centered approach, the current study investigated latent profiles for the emotional and behavioral problems of students in sixth-grade in elementary school and second grade of middle school. The aim was to explore latent transition patterns and verify the factors affecting the transitions. The participants were 1,937 adolescents who responded to the 3rd year (6th grade of elementary school; Time 1), 4th year (1st grade of middle school), and 5th year (2nd grade of middle school; Time 2) of the Korean Children Youth Panel Study. Latent profile and latent transition analyses were performed. The results were as follows: first, the latent profile of emotional and behavioral problems changed from Time 1 to Time 2. The latent groups at Time 1 were classified into low, moderate, high, and externalizing-dominant, whereas at Time 2, five groups were identified: low, moderate, high, externalizing-dominant, and withdrawal-dominant. Second, transition analyses revealed that although 22.3-57.0% of latent groups remained unchanged, there were significant changes over time between groups, as a new group (‘withdrawal-dominant’) emerged in Time 2. Third, different factors influenced the latent profile transition of emotional and behavioral problems depending on the transition pattern. Higher levels of self-esteem, better relationships with peers and teachers, and lower levels of parental inconsistency meant emotional and behavioral problems had not worsened at Time 2. The results suggest that early interventions are needed during the transition from childhood to early adolescence.

This study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of the screen media time of young children on the relationship between mothers’ reasons for allowing young children to use screen media and their children’s ability to regulate screen media. The participants consisted of 614 children aged 5-6 (312 boys and 302 girls), and all the survey questions were answered by their mothers. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping analysis were employed to analyze the data using SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 8.6. The results were as follows. First, mothers’ educational and ritualized reasons for allowing young children to use screen media and children’s screen media time directly affected young children’s ability to regulate screen media. Second, children’s screen media time mediated the relationship between mothers’ educational and ritualized reasons for allowing their children to use screen media and children’s ability to regulate screen media. When mothers permitted their children to use screen media for educational purposes, their children were likely to spend less time on screen media usage which, in turn, increased their ability to regulate screen media. Conversely, the more mothers allowed their children to use screen media for ceremonial purposes, the more time their children spent on screen media and the less ability they had to regulate screen media usage. These outcomes suggest that, to improve children’s screen media regulation ability, mothers must not routinely allow their children to use screen media and should manage their children’s screen media time.