The purpose of this project was to explore intra- and inter-individual differences over time on self-esteem, coping styles, psychological distress and school satisfaction among 62 students’ experiencing an academic transition into a rural middle school environment. Students completed the assessments at three points in time: once before the transition into middle school, and twice after the transition with once shortly after the transition and once during spring semester of the transition year. Students were assessed on global self-esteem with Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC), on coping styles using the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Revised (CISS), and on psychological distress and school satisfaction using the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC 2).

A series of two-way ANOVA revealed no interaction effects when comparing the dependant variables across time to gender, inclusion in the gifted program, or those who were enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. However, significance was reported over time on the dependant variables. This study found that shortly after the transition into middle school within a rural environment the students reported increases in self-esteem, fewer internalizing symptoms and emotional symptoms, and greater satisfaction with the middle school environment, school personnel and the structure of the educational environment as compared to pre-transition measures. As the school year progressed scores on many of the measurements within this study returned close to baseline.

In order to examine inter-individual differences a cluster analyses was attempted on time 1, time 2 and time 3 on four variables of global self-esteem and measures of psychological distress (internalizing, personal adjustment, and the emotional symptom index). The results of the cluster analyses did not yield any unique cluster membership among the participants. Thus this study did not replicate previous studies using cluster analysis with similar variables. Implications for school counselors and directions for future research are discussed.