The purpose of this study was to identify the profiles of adolescents’ internalizing and
externalizing problems and to examine the effects of individual, parental, and peer predictors on these
profiles. Methods: The researchers analyzed data from 7,187 adolescents’ responses to the 2010 Korea
Youth Health Survey. They used Mplus 6.1 to conduct a latent profile analysis (LPA) on the adolescents’
internalizing and externalizing problems, and they used multinomial logistic regression to examine the
effects of self-esteem, parental attachment, and peer attachment on the profiles. Results: The researchers
found that four profiles of internalizing and externalizing problems best described the mental health
problems of the adolescents in the study. The profiles differed primarily in the severity of problems (low,
moderate, severe, most severe). The participants tended to cluster in relatively lower-problem profiles, as
ratings of self-esteem, parental attachment, and peer attachment were higher among them. Conclusions:
These results support that adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems tend to co-occur. The
researchers suggest that self-esteem, parental attachment, and peer attachment need to be considered as
strategies for preventing and alleviating adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems.