Investigating subtypes of children’s social, emotional and behavioral problems using latent profile analysis

The current study aimed to explore subtypes of elementary school children regarding their social, emotional, and behavioral problems, validate the derived profiles with the mean differences of two outcomes (i.e., children’s peer problems and prosocial behaviors) across the profile groups, and then examine the association between predictors (i.e., gender, ethnicity, and covid-19 impact status) and students’ profile membership. Elementary school teachers rated 639 children ages 5 to 12 with the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC-17). Four groups were identified using the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA): Well-adjusted (51.6%), Comorbid Attention and Externalizing Risk (21.9%), Internalizing Risk (18.2%), and Severe Risk (8.3%). Students in the Well-adjusted profile showed a low-risk level for peer problems and high prosocial skills. The Well-adjusted group tends to have more females than the Comorbid Attention and Externalizing Risk group and Severe Risk group. More children from the minority group were represented in the Comorbid Attention and Externalizing Risk group rather than the Well-adjusted group. The Well-adjusted group tends to have more children whose behaviors were not affected by Covid-19 than the other three profiles. The findings highlight the importance of early intervention to prevent the potential occurrence of specific or comorbid aspects of social, emotional, and behavioral problems.