Heterogeneity in Longitudinal Links Between Social Support and Cognitive Development: A Person-Centered Analysis of Chinese Early Adolescents

Social support from parents, teachers, and peers has been linked to adolescent cognitive development, but these associations may vary across individuals. This study examined whether longitudinal links between multi-source social support and cognitive ability differ across Chinese early adolescents with distinct personality-related profiles. Using two-wave data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS; N = 6415 seventh graders), we conducted latent profile analysis and identified four heuristic personality-related profiles: resilient, undercontrolled, reserved, and overcontrolled. Multi-group cross-lagged panel models showed significant subgroup heterogeneity in the overall regression structure. In the undercontrolled, reserved, and overcontrolled subgroups, peer support was the only support source prospectively associated with later cognitive ability, whereas parental support showed a unique prospective association with later cognitive ability in the resilient subgroup. Positive reverse paths from cognitive ability to later support appeared only in the resilient and reserved subgroups; in the overcontrolled subgroup, a small negative path from cognitive ability to perceived teacher support was observed instead. Interconnections among parental, teacher, and peer support also varied descriptively across subgroups. Although the cross-lagged coefficients were modest, these findings suggest structured heterogeneity in longitudinal links between social support and cognitive ability that may be obscured in aggregate models.