Journal of Adolescence 2002, 25, 19–30

doi:10.1006/jado.2001.0446, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

The role of personality, parents and peers in adolescents

career exploration
BAERBEL KRACKE

The role of individual characteristics, parental behaviours and peers for occupational
exploration was examined in a sample of 192 German ninth graders (80 girls, 112 boys)
from middle-track schools. The adolescents completed questionnaires at two points of
measurement which were 6 months apart. The results showed that individual
characteristics which reflected an active and constructive approach to developmental
demands were correlated with more intense occupational exploration. Child-centred
parental behaviours were also correlated positively with information-seeking
behaviours. Moreover, parental behaviours predicted change in exploration over the
observed time period. Concerning the role of peers which was often neglected in career
development theory, the results showed that frequent talks with peers about career-
related issues were significantly associated with the intensity of information-seeking
behaviours and, at the same time, predicted an intensification of occupational
exploration during the following 6-month period. The findings suggest that it would be
fruitful to consider more thoroughly the role of peers in future research on adolescents’
career development.
r 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of
The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents

Introduction

Becoming aware of a possible future occupation and preparing for the transition from school
to work is regarded as a major developmental task in the transitional period of adolescence
(Havighurst, 1948; Erikson, 1968). This is reflected in adolescents’ judgements about the
relative importance of various developmental tasks (Dreher and Oerter, 1986). Older
adolescents report that educational and occupational issues are more important concerns
than other youth-specific developmental tasks such as romantic relationships or planning a
future family. Moreover, they invest more effort in exploring the former domains than the
latter ones (e.g. Dreher and Dreher, 1985; Kalakoski and Nurmi, 1998). At the same time,
adults expect and generally endorse activities which are related to autonomy and
occupation-oriented decisions, whereas they show negative reactions when adolescents
avoid dealing with these developmental tasks (Flammer and Avramakis, 1992).
The aim of the present study is to broaden our knowledge about predictors of individual
differences in adolescents’ efforts to actively engage in the developmental task of
occupational preparation. When we examine how adolescents handle occupational
preparation, we focus on the intensity of information-seeking activities. The intensity of
exploration is regarded as the crucial prerequisite for a mature decision particularly in
developmentally oriented theories of occupational choice (cf. Super, 1990). Previous analyses
of our data which concentrated on individual dispositions and parental behaviours as
predictors of occupational exploration (Kracke and Schmitt-Rodermund, 2001) suggested
that supportive parental behaviours promote adolescents’ information-seeking activities

Reprint requests and correspondence should be addressed to: B. Kracke, University of Jena, Germany.

0140-1971/02/01$35
00 # 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of

The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents
20 B. Kracke

directly, and indirectly by stimulating individual characteristics of active purposefulness

which, in turn, were related with exploration. This present paper builds on these facts, and
examines the additional value of peer support for career-related information seeking.
Considering peers as a potential predictor of adolescents’ occupational exploration broadens
our view of the social facilitators of the preparational activities. Although peers are very
important for adolescents’ social and emotional development, they have attracted almost no
attention in the study of adolescents’ career development.
The study of Dreher and Dreher (1985) on German students in middle track schools that
combined quantitative and qualitative measures provided useful insight into adolescents’
knowledge about the means of solving the developmental task of occupational preparation.
They found that developmental tasks varied with respect to the extent to which the
individual’s own initiative or assistance from others were regarded as most efficient. Whereas
adolescents stressed the importance of their own activities concerning the solution of social
developmental tasks (cf. Silbereisen et al., 1992), the solution of tasks associated with
occupational preparation was regarded as possible when personal activity and help from
others were combined. External help was represented by access to information material
and media, older adolescents, adults, peers, friends and parents. In the domain of
occupational decision-making, the adolescents revealed a wide range of adequate knowledge
about efficient activities, whereas cognitions associated with a future partnership or
family were more global and less differentiated. The most important activity which
adolescents elicited with regard to their occupational preparation was information gathering.
Information gathering referred to the exploration of various career opportunities as well as
the internal search focussing on concise ideas concerning one’s abilities, interests, goals, and
goal-achieving strategies. The adolescents yielded very concrete activities to pursue
their goals including talking with parents, teachers, and friends, making experiences
during internships, jobs (cf. Mortimer and Johnson, 1999), etc. Overall, the study of
Dreher and Dreher demonstrated that adolescents regard exploration of the external
environment and the self as crucial activities in the course of selecting an occupation.
The findings offer a perfect illustration of the notions of Super’s career development
theory (1990). Based on several empirical studies, Super asserted that exploration of the
external and internal environment is essential in making a career choice which matches to
the individual’s interests and abilities as well as the demands of the occupational
environment. Identity theory (Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1980; Bosma, 1985; Grotevant, 1987;
Waterman, 1992) considers exploration as paramount for a satisfactory commitment to a
choice in any given life domain. From a psycho-biological perspective, exploration is
perceived as an innate adaptational behavior that is functional for the orientation of the
individual in his or her social and material world throughout life (Keller et al., 1994).
Although theoretical notions of exploration regard it as an important adaptational behaviour
throughout the life-span, research has generally focussed on explorative behaviour in
childhood (e.g. van den Boom, 1994), adolescence (Bosma, 1985), or young adulthood
(e.g. Marcia, 1980).
Concerning factors explaining variation in adolescents’ career exploration our previous
research demonstrated that one year before the transition from school to work adolescents
reported different intensities of information-seeking activities dependent on several aspects
which were related to their occupational preparedness (Kracke and Schmitt-Rodermund,
2001). Those adolescents who felt better informed about their own interests and
occupational opportunities were more likely to actively explore and even to intensify
 Career exploration 21

exploration over time. Beyond the importance of these aspects, we also addressed
the question how individual dispositions influence occupational exploration. The search
for individual characteristics as predictors was inspired by the theoretical considerations
of Grotevant (1987) who postulated that the main focus of identity research on the impact
of exploration on personality development tells only half of the story. In an attempt to go
beyond this unidirectional approach, he proposed a model which considers characteristics
of the individual as antecedents of individual differences in explorative behaviours. Based
on prior research on adaptive functioning of individuals, he suggested self-esteem,
ego-resiliency, openness to experience, and self-monitoring as potentially important
characteristics for the explanation of variance in identity exploration. Research of
Blustein and colleagues (Blustein, 1989; Blustein and Phillips, 1988) who studied
antecedents of occupational exploration, demonstrated that a more systematic decision-
making style as well as internal control beliefs were correlated with more serious
career exploration. Internal control beliefs were also referred to as antecedents of
active coping (Ebata and Moos, 1994; Seiffge-Krenke, 1995). Common to these indi-
vidual characteristics is their reflection of what Savickas (1997) labels a ‘‘syndrome of
adaptability’’, i.e. the ability to respond suitably and constructively to developmental
demands. In our study, personal adapatability was assessed by self-efficacy, planfulness,
openness to new experiences, and low irritability. In previous analyses, these personal
dispositions were highly correlated with occupational exploration (Kracke and Schmitt-
Rodermund, 2001).
As regards social factors relevant to career exploration, identity research (e.g. Grotevant
and Cooper, 1985; Vondracek, 1993), research on parenting (Baumrind, 1989; Steinberg
et al., 1991), and individuation theory (Youniss and Smollar, 1985; Grotevant and Cooper,
1987) point to certain characteristics of the parent–child relationship which contribute to
the promotion of adaptive behaviours in adolescence. Parenting which is child-centred,
warm, supportive and reciprocal is presumed to foster the development of self-initiative,
responsivity, and maturity in children and adolescents. As already mentioned above, our own
results revealed that parental openness for adolescent issues, authoritativeness, individuation
in the parent–child relationship as well as parental support regarding career-related issues
were also good predictors of the level of exploration and of change in information seeking
activities over time (Kracke and Schmitt-Rodermund, 2001).
Although peers exert an important role in the development of individuals, career
development theory has usually neglected this social context (Grotevant and Cooper, 1987).
In adolescence, peers gain particular importance because they provide emotional support
during the process of autonomy development in the parent–child relationship. Peers appear
to be particularly helpful in respect to the exploration of the self. Talking with age-mates,
adolescents can practise new patterns of thinking and develop ideas about the future
(Gottman and Mettetal, 1986). Because adolescents expand their range of activities, peers
become increasingly important in granting secure grounds for the exploration of new
environments (Berndt and Keefe, 1995). The present study examined whether peer support
concerning career-related issues has a positive impact on career exploration. In contrast to
the more favourable functions of peers and friends in the process of identity exploration, the
studies of Stattin and Magnusson (1990) and of Gustafson et al. (1992) suggest a possible
negative role of peers, particularly, for girls’ educational and career development. They
reported that girls’ contacts with older or working friends or the presence of a steady
boyfriend at age 15 had a potentially deleterious effect on the level of occupational
22 B. Kracke

attainment at age 26. Whether this effect could be attributable to the fact that steady
heterosexual friendships or contacts with older and working friends interfere with career
exploration will also be examined in the present paper.
The present study continues the examination of antecedents of career exploration in a
sample of German adolescents attending middle track schools1. The adolescents were
followed longitudinally across three points of measurement throughout ninth and tenth
grade. In the present study, we will focus on the 6-month period between the first and second
measurement point which mark the beginning and cessation of a school-based career
information program. Studying the impact of individual and social factors on career
exploration across this period provides an impressive idea as to how meaningful individual
influences are over and above planned group interventions in school.
The following research questions guided our analyses: (1) Do frequent contacts with older
and working peers affect girls’ occupational exploration in a negative way?; and (2) Does
talking with peers about occupational issues have an impact on adolescents’ information
seeking behaviours? Effects of career-related conversations among peers are examined
extending earlier analyses that considered individual factors and parental influence.

Method

Sample
Two hundred and forty students (40?4% female) from middle-track schools in an prosperous
industrial region of West Germany were followed longitudinally from the onset of ninth grade
to the middle of tenth grade across three points of measurement (MP1: Fall 1994, MP2:
Spring 1995, MP3: Spring 1996). At the initial measurement, adolescents were on average
15?27 years old (S.D.=0?66). Due to attrition and missing data the following analyses are
based on a total sub-sample of 192 adolescents (80 girls and 112 boys). Analyses on possible
selection effects caused by the drop out revealed no systematic differences between the
longitudinal sample and the original sample at first measurement.

Measures
Career exploration. Career exploration was assessed with a self-developed six-item scale
that included information gathering in the context (e.g. ‘‘I talk to as many people as possible
about occupations I am interested in.’’), systematic information gathering (e.g. ‘‘When I seek
information about an occupation, I also try to find out about its negative aspects.’’), and
exploration of the own person concerning career-related issues (e.g. ‘‘I try to find out about
my vocational interests.’’). Cronbach’s alphas were 0?69 at first measurement point and 0?77
at the second assessment.

Adaptive personality. Self-efficacy was assessed by four items which were part of a larger
instrument developed by Schwarzer (Schwarzer, 1986; e.g. ‘‘When I face a problem, I usually
have an idea how to solve it.’’; Cronbach’s alpha at T1 was 0?66 and 0?70 at T2). Openness
1
In some regions of Germany, after four years of primary school students move to one of three tracks of secondary
school. The lower track (Hauptschule) usually leads to blue collar apprenticeships or unskilled labor after five or six
years. The middle track (Realschule) usually leads to white collar apprenticeships or special schools for intermediate
qualified social work or administration after six years. After tenth grade, the high achieving middle track students
(about one third) move to the higher track (Gymnasium), which leads to a university bound qualification.
 Career exploration 23

for new experiences (Windle and Lerner, 1986) was comprised of four items (e.g. ‘‘I approach
new situations.’’; Cronbach’s alpha were at T1 0?73 and at T2 0?67). The scale low irritability
(Windle and Lerner, 1986) consisted of four items (e.g. ‘‘When I am busy with a task nothing
can distract me.’’; Cronbach’s alphas were at T1 0?55 and 0?67 at T2). Planfulness was
assessed by a seven-item scale tapping planful problem-solving behaviors (Hofer et al. 1996;
e.g. ‘‘When I have to make a decision, I thoroughly ponder the likely consequences of the
decision’’; Cronbach’s alphas were 0?77 at T1 and 0?83 at T2).
Conceptually, we interpreted the four scales as capturing features of an adaptive
personality which we wanted to include in our analyses. However, we acknowledge the fact
that only some of our measures such as low irritability address individual characteristics
traditionally focused on in personality research, while planfulness and other more process-
oriented variables could rather be referred to in terms of, e.g., individual strategies.
Child-centred parenting. The scale authoritativeness was adopted from Lamborn and
colleagues (Lamborn et al., 1991) and included eight items (e.g. ‘‘When my parents want me
to do something they explain why.’’; Cronbach’s alphas were 0?78 at T1 and 0?75 at T2.).
Parental openness for adolescent issues was assessed by a self-developed five-item scale (e.g.
‘‘When I criticize my parents, they listen to me and think it over.’’; Cronbach’s alphas were
0?75 at T1 and 0?76 at T2). Individuation in the parent–adolescent relationship (Youniss and
Smollar, 1985) was captured by four items (e.g. ‘‘Even when my parents don’t like my
opinion, I openly express what I really think.’’; Cronbach’s alphas were 0?62 at T1 and 0?65 at
T2). Parental support concerning career issues was assessed by a self-developed six-item scale
(e.g. ‘‘My parents often ask me about my career interests and plans.’’; Cronbach’s alphas were
0?81 at T1 and 0?83 at T2). The four scales were included in the further analyses to
represent the construct child-centred parenting.
Peers. Peer support in the process of preparing a future career decision was assessed with
two self-developed items addressing conversations with friends (‘‘I often talk with my friends
about my occupational ideas.’’) and support in clarification of ideas (‘‘My friends help me to
become clearer with my occupational interests.’’). Both items were highly correlated
(rMP1=0?71; rMP2=0?74).
A single item addressed whether the adolescents had a romantic relationship. Having older
or working friends was addressed by two items (‘‘Are there some among your friends who are
older than you?’’ ‘‘. . . already working or in an apprenticeship?’’). The response categories for
the older and working friends items distinguished: (1) ‘‘no such friends’’; (2) ‘‘a few of my
friends’’; (3) ‘‘about half of my friends’’; and (4) ‘‘more than half of my friends’’. Both items
correlated 0?48 at the first point of measurement (girls r=0?58; boys r=0?40) and were,
hence, summed up.

Results

Our first set of analyses addressed the question whether a romantic relationship and frequent
contacts with older or working peers had an influence on adolescents’ career exploration.
Because we were interested in gender-specific patterns, the analyses were conducted for
adolescent girls and boys separately.
The results show that having a romantic relationship is not related with career exploration
neither among girls nor among boys. Concerning frequent contacts with older or working
24 B. Kracke

Table 1 Correlations between romantic relationships, older and working friends and occupational
exploration for female and male adolescents at measurement points 1 and 2.
Variables T1 T2
Male Female Male Female
r p r p r p r p
Older/Working
Friends 0?01 N.S. 0?23 0?05 0?02 N.S. 0?05 N.S.

Steady Friend 0?11 N.S. 0?02 N.S. 0?00 N.S. 0?04 N.S.

Note. Females: n=80, Males: n=109.

peers, we find only one significant correlation. Among girls at the first measurement point
having a larger portion of older and working friends goes along with displaying less intense
information-seeking activities. The lack of replication of this relationship at T2 casts doubt
on the reliability of this finding. Therefore, a post-hoc test was conducted which checked the
significance of the difference between the almost zero-correlation among boys and the 0?23
correlation among girls. It showed that this difference was not statistically significant
(z=1?63, N.S.).
Possible cross-lagged effects of these peer contacts on change in career exploration were
tested by means of partial correlations. Peer contacts were correlated with exploration at T2
with exploration at T1 as control. The partial correlations reveal that neither among boys
(rpart= 0?09, N.S.) nor among girls (rpart= 0?09, N.S.) the involvement in a romantic
relationship predicts change in career exploration across the observed 6-month period
between T1 and T2. The same holds for the impact of older and working peers on change in
information seeking activities (boys: rpart=0?02, N.S.; girls: rpart= 0?02, N.S.).
Summarizing, our analyses of possible influences of romantic relationships and contacts
with older and working peers on career exploration do not support the idea that the intensity
of the information seeking activities is negatively affected, particularly, among girls when
potentially distracting peers are around.
To examine the influence of individual factors, parenting, and peer support on career
exploration, we tested a path model employing structural equation modeling (AMOS;
Arbuckle, 1997) with maximum likelihood estimation based on covariance analyses. Before
we address the formulation and testing of the path model in more detail, we will shortly
report about preliminary tests of the measurement models of the latent constructs adaptive
personality and child-centred parenting. First, we tested whether the four scales self-efficacy,
openness for new experiences, low irritability and planfulness represented one common
dimension. We assumed that a single latent common factor could explain the correlations
between the four scales. The test of the model indicated a good fit with the empirical data
(w2=0?82/df=2, po0?66, GFI=0?99, RMSEA=0?00). Following the same procedure, we
examined child-centred parenting. The test of the model which included authoritativeness,
parental openness for adolescent issues, individuation, and parental support concerning
career issues as indicator variables, again, confirmed a common factor (w2=3?59/df=2,
po0?17, GFI=0?99, RMSEA=0?06).
Informed from previous analyses on the effects of child centered parenting and adaptive
personality characteristics on change of career exploration (Kracke and Schmitt-Rodermund,
 Career exploration 25

Parental
openness

Support of
occup. dev. Child-centered
Authurita- parenting T1
tiveness

Individua-
tion

Problem-
solving
Low
irritability Adaptive
personality T1
Self-efficacy

Openness to
experiences

Peer support Peer support

career issues T1 career issues T2

Career Career
exploration T1 exploration T2

MP1 MP2

Figure 1. Postulated influence of Parenting, Personality, and Peer Support on Career Exploration.

2001), we postulated a path model including a correlation between child-centred parenting

and adaptive personal strategies measured at T1 as well as a correlation between parenting
and exploration at T1. Furthermore, we assumed a path from child-centred parenting to
career exploration at T2, which indicates that parenting results in a change in career
exploration over time. We also postulated a correlation between adaptive personality and
career exploration at T1. Concerning the impact of friends on career exploration, we
postulated a correlation between peer support and career exploration at T1, and a path from
peer support at T1 to career exploration at T2, specifying that peer support leads to change
in career exploration. Figure 1 shows the model which was tested.
The test of our model revealed a quite satisfactory fit with the data. The model indicators
chi-square/degrees of freedom-ratio (w2=113?04/df=50, pE0?00), Goodness of Fit Index
(GFI=0?91), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA=0?08) are
acceptable. Although our model seems to fit the data, modification indices suggested to
establish two additional relationships between variables. Both concerned the relationship
between child-centred parenting and peer support. First, a correlation between parenting
and peer-support at T1 was suggested and, second, a path from parenting at T1 to peer
26 B. Kracke

Parental
openness 0.76
Support of 0.53
occup. dev. Child-centered
Authurita- 0.82 parenting T1
tiveness
0.70
Individua-
tion
0.25
Problem- 0.59
solving
0.72
Low
irritability 0.57 Adaptive
0.19 0.66 personality T1
Self-efficacy 0.55 0.37

Openness to 0.46
experiences

Peer support 0.43 Peer support

0.48 career issues T1 career issues T2

0.33 0.17
2
R = 0.30

Career 0.17 Career

exploration T1 exploration T2

MP1 MP2

Figure 2. Influences of Parenting, Personality, and Peer Support on Career Exploration.

support at T2. The inclusion of the correlation at T1 improved the model significantly
(w2=106?16/df=49, pE0?00, GFI=0?92, RMSEA=0?08). In our final analysis, the path
from parenting to peer support at T2 was also included which again improved the model
substantially (w2=93?41/df=48, po0?00, GFI=0?93, RMSEA=0?07). Figure 2 presents the
final model. All coefficients depicted are significant at the 0?05 level.
As expected, the results showed that career exploration is positively correlated with child-
centred parental behaviours, with adaptive individual characteristics, and with supportive
friends. Additionally, we find a plausible, albeit not postulated correlation between positive
parenting and supportive friends. That this relationship seems to have a direction which goes
from parenting to peers is suggested by a significant cross-lagged path. In terms of cross-
lagged effects which are particularly helpful in gaining ideas about the direction of effects, we
also find that child-centred parenting predicts an intensification of exploration across time.
Moreover, talks with friends about career-related issues as well as perceiving them as helpful
for the clarification of their ideas about suitable occupations leads also to more intense
information seeking.
 Career exploration 27

Discussion

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the social factors that would
influence career exploration beyond the workings of individual characteristics. Knowing that
child-centred parenting is concurrently associated with intensive career related information
gathering as well as that it predicts change in the intensity of exploration over time, we were
particularly interested to learn more about the role that friends play in adolescents’
information gathering. In line with our expectations, which were based on previous findings
concerning friends’ influences on the exploration of the self and new environments (Berndt
and Keefe, 1995; Gottman and Mettetal, 1986), we found that interactions with peers
focusing on career-related issues are not only correlated with more information-seeking
behaviours but also contribute to the explanation of change in exploration. It should be
pointed out that our measure of information-gathering activities also included talking with
other people. To make sure that the relationship between friends’ support which also includes
talking about career-related issues and career exploration is not merely semantic, we
conducted additional analyses with an indicator of exploration which did not include talking
with people. This scale which tapped only internal and systematic exploration was also
correlated significantly with friends’ support. We have found previously some additional
evidence for the important role of friends in the information gathering process in another
sample of middle track students who only participated in a cross-sectional assessment. In that
study, we employed a self-developed four-item-scale (e.g. ‘‘It is easier for me to collect
information together with friends than to do it only by myself.’’ Cronbach’s alpha=0?83)
which captured joint activities with friends focusing on career exploration. Again, there was
a significant association between this measure and the intensity of career exploration
(r=0?28, po0?01). Our findings provide empirical support for the reports of Dreher and
Dreher (1985) emphasizing the important role peers play in adolescents’ concepts about the
strategies to master the developmental task of occupational preparation. These insights
should, first, be considered in career-development theory, and second, they could fruitfully
inform career-orientation programmes. Taken together, these findings suggest that
encouraging adolescents to gather information together with peers and to present each
other what they had found out should promote processes of clarification about their interests
and possibilities.
While Stattin and Magnusson’s (1990) findings on the impact of older and working
friends on later educational attainment were often interpreted referring toFparticularly
femaleFadolescents’ less intensive career exploration, we did not find support for this
notion. In our sample, the existence of a steady friend of the opposite gender is no distraction
from career exploration. To have older and working friends is correlated with less
intensive exploration in girls at one measurement point only. The linkage between
the existence of older and working peers and of a steady boyfriend and females’ educational
attainment may result from other mechanisms than from a lack of effort invested to
master a relevant developmental task. One could think of the impact of gender stereotyping.
Girls may learn from their older and working peers what kind of occupations are suitable
for them which, in turn, could be confounded with shorter education. Likewise, the
influence of older and working peers may become relevant only later in adolescence.
For instance, the recent Shell study (Jugendwerk der Deutschen Shell, 2000) shows
that both female and male adolescents attribute similar importance to career and family,
28 B. Kracke

whereas family is ranked to be more important by females during young adulthood (at the age
of 22).
Although we find strong gender differences in career exploration in our data, namely more
intensive information-gathering activities among female adolescents (Kracke and Schmitt-
Rodermund, 2001), the associations between the variables were not different between the
genders. That means for both, adolescent females and males, parents’ and friends’ support is
similarly helpful for their active approach to solve the developmental task of career
orientation.
Finally, our analyses suggest a systematic linkage between supportive experiences in the
parent–adolescent context, on the one hand, and peer support in the course of career
exploration, on the other hand. Reflecting more general observations of a certain continuity
between parent and peer contexts, higher levels of parental support seem to go along with
more support on the part of adolescents’ age-mates. A cross-lagged path pointing to increases
in peer support depending on the level of support provided by the parents is suggestive of
parental influences on adolescents’ experiences among their peers. The adolescents seem to
develop certain social competencies when their parents are sensitive to their developmental
demands which allow them to establish peer contacts which are particularly useful as a secure
base for exploration. This fits to earlier findings from Steinberg and colleagues (Steinberg
et al., 1994) who also reported positive cross-lagged effects of authoritative parenting on
adolescents’ adjustment and competence.
In sum, the results of our study were in accordance with the general picture of antecedents
of adaptive development in adolescence and provide some new information on the meaning
of friends’ support for career exploration. Still, some caveats of our study have to be
considered. First, the results are confined to a subgroup of all ninth and tenth graders in
Germany. We do not know whether they also apply to students attending other school tracks.
Likewise, the participants of our study live in an economically advantaged region, and we
cannot discard the possibility that our findings may not generalize to samples from other
areas. A replication is clearly necessary. Secondly, our results are based on self-report data.
This could result in partly hightened cross-sectional correlations due to method covariance.
Nevertheless, our longitudinal results should not be affected by this problem. Still, one could
think of considering multiple sources of data and assessments including observational data, in
particular, in future studies to address this issue.

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