Children's Externalizing Behavior Problems Research Articles

Family Conflict and Children's Behavior Problems: The Moderating Role of Child Temperament

Child temperament was examined as a moderator of the link between family conflict and child behavior problems. Temperament assessed in early childhood was used to predict the relation between family conflict and externalizing behavior problems measured during the early elementary school years. For children with difficult temperament, a strong association between subsequent family conflict and behavioral adjustment was predicted; for children with easy or intermediate temperaments, low to moderate associations were predicted. These hypotheses were tested across 3 temperament groups (easy, intermediate, and difficult). Data were collected from 108 children and families participating in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study at ages 3 through 10 years. Consistent with the hypotheses, the data provided support for the moderating role of temperament in predicting the association between family conflict and child externalizing behavior problems. These findings suggest that temperamental difficultness operates as a vulnerability factor with respect to the development of children's behavior problems in families with high conflict.

Crianças com problemas de comportamento exteriorizado e a dinâmica familiar

A literatura sobre crianças com problemas de comportamento exteriorizado tem enfatizado a necessidade de focalizar o desenvolvimento cognitivo, o estresse parental e os padrões de relação familiar para melhor compreender o seu ajustamento e desenvolvimento. Este estudo visa descrever os tipos de famílias de crianças com comportamentos exteriorizados, destacando o perfil cognitivo das crianças, o estresse parental e a qualidade das relações familiares. Foram selecionadas 14 crianças pré-escolares morando com ambos os pais biológicos, ou com a mãe e o padrasto ou com apenas um genitor. Foram aplicados testes de avaliação cognitiva às crianças e, aos genitores, uma escala de estresse parental, questionário e entrevista semi-estruturada. Os dados mostram que o perfil cognitivo das crianças é caracterizado por um raciocínio geral abaixo da sua idade cronológica e que a dinâmica do relacionamento familiar difere em função do tipo de família e entre pais e mães, sendo os padrastos mais estressados que os genitores biológicos. Os resultados sugerem que há necessidade de investigar melhor a origem e a evolução dos comportamentos exteriorizados na perspectiva do curso de vida, considerando os tipos de famílias.Palavras-chave: relações familiares; problemas de comportamento exteriorizado; estresse parental.

Rigidity in Parent–Child Interactions and the Development of Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior in Early Childhood

Behavioral rigidity is a common feature of many psychopathologies, yet the association between rigidity and the development of childhood psychopathology has not been studied. State space grids (a dynamic systems [DS] method) were used to examine the relation between rigidity in parent-child interactions and childhood externalizing and internalizing problems. High-risk kindergarten children (n = 240) and their parents were observed for 2 hr engaging in a variety of tasks that were expected to elicit a range of affect. State space grid analysis of the observational data revealed an association between rigidity in parent-child interactions and child externalizing behavior problems in the fall and spring of kindergarten and 1st grade, and with growth in those problems over time. Rigidity was associated with concurrent levels and with chronic high-level internalizing problems. Strengths and limitations of the new DS methodology in relation to understanding child psychopathology are discussed.

Gender and alcohol moderate prenatal cocaine effects on teacher-report of child behavior

Prenatal cocaine exposure has been associated with behavior problems at school age. However, the correspondence between use of cocaine and alcohol during pregnancy is often high, making appropriate allocation of variance and control for other exposures and their interactions difficult. Additionally, gender-specific effects are not typically reported. The purpose of the current study was to determine the degree to which gender-specific effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on teacher-reported child externalizing behavior problems were evident when evaluated in relation to prenatal alcohol exposure. Subjects were singleton infants of mothers who were prospectively evaluated during pregnancy. At age seven, 499 children (214 exposed prenatally to cocaine) were evaluated in our laboratory and teacher reports were solicited. Analyses stratified by gender and prenatal alcohol exposure status, and controlled for significant pre- and postnatal confounders, revealed that among boys with prenatal alcohol exposure, those with persistent cocaine exposure throughout pregnancy had significantly higher levels of Delinquent Behavior compared to boys with no cocaine exposure. Boys with any prenatal cocaine exposure were twice as likely as unexposed boys to have clinically significant Externalizing Behavior scores. However, no association was found between prenatal cocaine exposure and scores on Externalizing Behavior and specific syndromes for boys with no prenatal alcohol exposure. Among girls with no prenatal alcohol exposure, those with persistent cocaine exposure had significantly higher levels of Externalizing Behaviors and Aggressive Behaviors compared to girls with no prenatal cocaine exposure after control for confounding, and were almost five times as likely to have clinically significant Externalizing Behavior scores. However, for girls with prenatal alcohol exposure, no association between prenatal cocaine exposure and scores on Externalizing Behavior and specific syndromes was found after control for confounding. The current findings support gender- and alcohol-moderated effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on school-age teacher-reported child behavior problems. These findings are similar to what we have reported for independent parent-reported behavioral evaluation.

Divorce and Child Behavior Problems: Applying Latent Change Score Models to Life Event Data

Effects of parents' divorce on children's adjustment have been studied extensively. This article applies new advances in trajectory modeling to the problem of disentangling the effects of divorce on children's adjustment from related factors such as the child's age at the time of divorce and the child's gender. Latent change score models were used to examine trajectories of externalizing behavior problems in relation to children's experience of their parents' divorce. Participants included 356 boys and girls whose biological parents were married at kindergarten entry. The children were assessed annually through Grade 9. Mothers reported whether they had divorced or separated in each 12-month period, and teachers reported children's externalizing behavior problems each year. Girls' externalizing behavior problem trajectories were not affected by experiencing their parents' divorce, regardless of the timing of the divorce. In contrast, boys who were in elementary school when their parents divorced showed an increase in externalizing behavior problems in the year of the divorce. This increase persisted in the years following the divorce. Boys who were in middle school when their parents divorced showed an increase in externalizing behavior problems in the year of the divorce followed by a decrease to below baseline levels in the year after the divorce. This decrease persisted in the following years.

Physical Discipline and Child Behavior Problems: A Study of Ethnic Group Differences

Objective. This study examines ethnic group differences in the relation between parents' use of physical discipline and children's externalizing behavior problems in younger children and assesses both same-source and distinct-source data. Design. One hundred and twelve mothers of African American (N = 63) and European American (N = 49) children were interviewed regarding their parenting strategies and their child's behavior. Preschool teacher ratings of child behavior were obtained. Results. Regression analyses revealed significant main effects for gender and discipline on externalizing behavior problems. All 2-way interactions with ethnicity were significant, but only when predicting teacher-rated behavior problems. Post-hoc analyses showed that for African American men, there was a significant negative correlation between mother-reported physical discipline and teacher-rated externalizing behavior problems. Similar correlations for African American women and the European American gender groups were not significant. Conclusions. These findings show ethnic differences in the relation between physical discipline and externalizing behavior problems for young children when distinct-source information is obtained. The study extends the literature by showing this effect is particularly strong for boys.

The Linkage Between Multiple Perspectives of the Marital Relationship and Preschoolers' Adjustment

We examined how children's, parents', and observers' perceptions of the marital relationship are linked with children's adjustment. Children's perceptions of the marital relationship were assessed using a new measure, the Interparental Relationship Interview for Children (IRIC). In the first phase of the study, 63 preschoolers, 63 mothers, and 56 fathers completed questionnaires assessing the interparental relationship. Teachers assessed the children's adjustment. In the second phase, 39 of the couples enacted a typical conflictual marital interaction. Findings established the reliability and validity of the IRIC and revealed that the IRIC uniquely contributes to the prediction of children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Taken together, the different perspectives of the marital relationship explained 36% of the variance in children's externalizing behavior problems. These results suggest the promise of the IRIC and demonstrate the unique contribution of the young child's perspective.

The relations of effortful control and reactive control to children's externalizing problems: a longitudinal assessment.

In this study, we examined the role of negative emotionality as a moderator of the relations of effortful control and overcontrol (versus undercontrol) with children's externalizing problem behaviors; we also examined the longitudinal relations among these variables. Teachers' and parents' reports of children's negative emotionality, effortful control, overcontrol and externalizing problem behaviors were obtained at T1 (N=199; M age=89.51 months) and again 2 (T2) and 4 years (T3) later. In addition, children's effortful control was assessed with an observed measure of persistence. In a T3 concurrent structural equation model, effortful control, but not overcontrol, was negatively related to children's T3 externalizing problem behaviors. In regression analyses, the negative relation between T3 effortful control and externalizing problem behaviors was strongest at high levels of T3 negative emotionality. In the best-fitting longitudinal structural equation model, both T1 effortful control and T1 overcontrol negatively predicted externalizing problems at T1, whereas T3 effortful control (but not T3 overcontrol) was significantly negatively related to T3 externalizing problem behaviors when controlling for T1 externalizing problem behaviors.

Parental depression, parenting and family adjustment, and child effortful control: Explaining externalizing behaviors for preschool children

Contributions of symptoms of parental depression, marital/family adjustment, parents' coercive (physical restraint, criticism, directives) and instructional behaviors (cognitive guidance, i.e., explanations of goals/strategies, suggestions regarding strategies for completing tasks), and children's effortful control to preschool children's externalizing behavior problems were investigated. It was hypothesized that children's higher levels of effortful control serve a protective function, leading to lower levels of child conduct difficulties despite parental/familial risk factors. Higher levels of depressive symptoms, coercion, and cognitive guidance, along with lower levels of child effortful control, were associated with higher levels of child externalizing behaviors. Differences in hierarchical regression models were observed for data obtained from mothers and fathers, with maternal coercive behavior and cognitive guidance serving as statistically significant predictors of children's externalizing behavior and reports of marital/family adjustment predicting child externalizing problems described by fathers. These parental/family factors, along with child effortful control, should be considered in understanding the development of behavior problems in early childhood, and could be addressed within school or community-based interventions.

Maltreatment and family dysfunction in childhood and the subsequent adjustment of children and adults

The adjustment problems associated with sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, neglect, and witnessing family violence during childhood were examined in three studies. Study 1 demonstrated significant overlap between maltreatment types in parent reports (N = 50) of maltreatment experiences of their child aged 5–12 years. Parental sexual punitiveness, traditionality, family adaptability and family cohesion significantly predicted scores on 4 maltreatment scales and children's externalizing behavior problems. Level of maltreatment predicted internalizing, externalizing, and sexual behavior problems. In Study 2, significant overlap was found between adults' retrospective reports (N = 138) of all 5 types of maltreating behaviors. Parental sexual punitiveness, traditionality, family adaptability, and family cohesion during childhood predicted the level of maltreatment and current psychopathology. Although child maltreatment scores predicted psychopathology, childhood family variables were better predictors of adjustment. Study 3 demonstrated that child maltreatment scores predicted positive aspects of adult adaptive functioning (N = 95).

Parents' Beliefs About ADHD: Implications for Assessment and Treatment

L., & Strauss, C. C. (1985). Teacher ratings of attention problems in children experimentally classified as exhibiting attention deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 613–616. Lahey, B., Schaughency, E., Hynd, G., Carlson, C., & Niever, C. (1987). Attention deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity: Comparison of behavioral characteristics of clinic referred children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 718–723. Lahey, B. B., & Willcutt, E. G. (2000). Validity of the diagnosis and dimensions of attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Manuscript submitted for publication. Marshall, R. M., Hynd, G. W., Handwerk, M. J., & Hall, J. (1997). Academic underachievement in ADHD subtypes. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 30, 635–642. McBurnett, K., Pfiffner, L. J., & Frick, P. J. (2001). Symptom properties as a function of ADHD type: An argument for continued study of sluggish cognitive tempo. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 207–214. Milich, R., Balentine, A. C., & Lynam, D. R. (2001). ADHD/Combined Type and ADHD/Predominantly Inattentive Type are distinct and unrelated disorders. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 8, 463–488. Nigg, J. T., Blaskey, L., Huang, C., & Rappley, M. (2000). Executive functioning and ADHD DSM–IV subtypes. Manuscript submitted for publication. Pelham, W. E., & Fabiano, G. (In press). Treatment of attention deficit disorder: The impact of comorbidity. Child Psychology and Psychotherapy. Tannock, R. (1998). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Advances in cognitive, neurobiological, and genetic research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 65–99.

Psychometric Characteristics of the Parenting Scale in a Head Start Population

Examined the reliability, construct, and concurrent validity of the Parenting Scale (PS), a brief instrument designed to measure dysfunctional parenting practices for parents of young children. In Study 1, 183 primarily African American mothers and their Head Start children completed the PS. The PS, which consists of 3 subscales-Laxness, Overreactivity, and Verbosity-was subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Neither the original 3-factor structure, nor a 2-factor structure consisting of the original Laxness and Overreactivity factors, fit the data. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis yielded a 2-factor solution that was generally consistent with the Overreactivity and Laxness subscales identified by Arnold, O'Leary, Wolff, and Acker (1993). The 2-factor CFA solution was replicated with a sample of 216 similar mothers, and the 5-item Overreactivity and Laxness subscales retained internal consistencies above .70. Analysis of the convergent validity of the modified PS and its 2 subscales revealed moderate associations with measures of permissiveness, authoritarianism, involvement, and limit setting. Scores on the PS were not correlated significantly with measures of social desirability, maternal education level, or parent report of internalizing behavior problems. Concurrent validity evidence was obtained by correlating the PS with measures of parenting satisfaction and support, parenting stress, maternal depression, and measures of externalizing child behavior problems.

Examining Outcome Variability: Correlates of Treatment Response in a Child and Adolescent Anxiety Clinic

Examined correlates of treatment response in a clinic providing cognitive-behavioral therapy for children with anxiety disorders. Youth (ages 7 to 15) with a primary Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev., or 4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987, 1994) anxiety-disorder diagnosis (overanxious disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, or avoidant disorder) participated. After completing a full course of treatment and posttreatment (n = 135) and 1-year follow-up (n = 107) assessments, participants were classified into 1 of 2 groups-poor treatment response and good treatment response-using parent diagnostic reports. Discriminant function analyses indicated that higher levels of maternal- and teacher-reported child-internalizing psychopathology at pretreatment, higher levels of maternal self-reported depressive symptoms, and older-child age were all associated with less favorable treatment response. Other factors, such as child ethnicity, child sex, family income, family composition (i.e., dual parent vs. single parent), child-reported symptomatology, and maternal-reported level of child-externalizing behavior problems did not predict treatment response. Both practical and conceptual implications of the findings are discussed.

Follow-Up Section: Early Childhood Emotional Competence: Young Children's Emotionally-Charged Moral Narratives: Relations with Attachment and Behavior Problems

Participants were 45 mostly African-American or Latino young children (25 boys, 20 girls, mean age = 56.4 months), with about half recruited from a mental health facility and half from preschool settings. Children were administered two separate interviews examining their affectively-charged moral narratives regarding acts of victimization (Moral MSSB) and their attachment-related narratives (SAT). In addition, children's teachers or therapists completed assessments of the attachment-like aspects of their relationships with children (STRS), and a measure of children's behavior problems and competencies (C-TRF). Overall, after controlling for child age, gender, SES, and expressive language ability, children with more externalizing problems were more likely to describe aggressive themes, and less likely to mention adult aid or taking responsibility for transgressions in their moral narratives. In addition, more positive attachments (both the SAT and STRS) were associated with fewer externalizing problems. More than half of the total variance in children's externalizing scores could be predicted from a combination of the attachment and Moral MSSB variables. These findings have implications for understanding the affective origins of young children's externalizing behavior problems involving both peers and adults.

Mothers' emotional expressivity and children's behavior problems and social competence: mediation through children's regulation.

The relations between mothers' expressed positive and negative emotion and 55-79-month-olds' (76% European American) regulation, social competence, and adjustment were examined. Structural equation modeling was used to test the plausibility of the hypothesis that the effects of maternal expression of emotion on children's adjustment and social competence are mediated through children's dispositional regulation. Mothers' expressed emotions were assessed during interactions with their children and with maternal reports of emotions expressed in the family. Children's regulation, externalizing and internalizing problems. and social competence were rated by parents and teachers, and children's persistence was surreptitiously observed. There were unique effects of positive and negative maternal expressed emotion on children's regulation. and the relations of maternal expressed emotion to children's externalizing problem behaviors and social competence were mediated through children's regulation. Alternative models of causation were tested; a child-directed model in which maternal expressivity mediated the effects of child regulation on child outcomes did not fit the data as well.

Cumulative Risk and Continuity in Nonparental Care from Infancy to Early Adolescence

Variations in amounts of nonparental care across infancy, preschool, early elementary school, and early adolescence were examined in a longitudinal sample (N = 438). Of interest was (a) continuity in use of the different arrangements, (b) whether the arrangements were additively and cumulatively associated with children's externalizing behavior problems, and (c) whether predictive relations were accounted for by social-ecological (socioeconomic status, mothers' employment status, marital status) and social-experiential (parenting quality, exposure to aggressive peers) factors. Correlations among overall amounts of care provided little evidence of cross-time continuity. Consistent with the cumulative risk perspective, Grade 1 self-care and Grade 6 unsupervised peer contact incrementally predicted Grade 6 externalizing problems. Most of the predictive associations were accounted for by family background and social relationship factors.

Coparenting, family process, and family structure: Implications for preschoolers' externalizing behavior problems.

This study examined how aspects of triadic-level family interaction relate to preschoolers' externalizing behavior problems. The quality of coparenting, family affective processes, and family structure was assessed at 3 years, and mothers, fathers, and teachers reported on children's externalizing behavior problems at 4 years. High levels of supportive coparenting and more adaptive family structures were associated with fewer externalizing behavior problems, whereas high levels of undermining coparenting and negative affect and less adaptive family structures were associated with more externalizing behavior problems. Moreover, the quality of family affectivity and family structure interacted with coparenting and appeared to influence its effects on the family. This study highlights the importance of focusing on triadic, family-level variables for understanding children's behavior problems.

Parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior: prospective relationships to externalizing behavior problems in their young sons.

The hypothesis that parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior would be indirectly linked to child externalizing behavior problems through child lack of control, current levels of parent depression, family conflict, and parent-child conflict was tested using manifest variable regression analysis. Participants were a community sample of 125 families with an alcoholic father and 83 ecologically matched but nonsubstance abusing families involved in the first 2 waves of an ongoing longitudinal study (with 3 years between each wave). All families had a biological son who was 3-5 years old at study onset. Results revealed that child lack of control mediated the relation between paternal alcoholism and the son's subsequent externalizing behavior problems. Family conflict was a significant mediator of maternal and paternal lifetime antisocial behavior effects and father-son conflict mediated paternal lifetime antisocial behavior effects. Study implications are discussed within the context of parental socialization of antisocial behavior.

Maternal Negativity and Children's Externalizing Behavior

Maternal negativity in parent-child interactions related to both the presence and persistence of child externalizing behavior problems. We examined how behavior of 120 mothers and their children in an interaction task at preschool related to assessments of child behavior problems at preschool, first grade, and third grade. At preschool and first-grade, children were assigned to three groups: comparison, moderate externalizing, and pervasive externalizing; at both timepoints the pervasive externalizing group had greater maternal negativity assessed at preschool. Maternal negativity was predicted, beyond the child's disruptive behavior in the task, by two variables: mother's perception of low spousal agreement and support related to child problems and depression. At third grade, child symptoms and diagnoses of ADHD and ODD were predicted by mothers' commands and repeat commands, though not negativity, in the preschool interaction task. Implications of these findings for early family intervention are discussed.

The relation between mothers' hostile attribution tendencies and children's externalizing behavior problems: the mediating role of mothers' harsh discipline practices.

This study examined relations among mothers' hostile attribution tendencies regarding their children's ambiguous problem behaviors, mothers' harsh discipline practices, and children's externalizing behavior problems. A community sample of 277 families (19% minority representation) living in three geographic regions of the United States was followed for over 4 years. Mothers' hostile attribution tendencies were assessed during the summer prior to children's entry into kindergarten through their responses to written vignettes. Mothers' harsh discipline practices were assessed concurrently through ratings by interviewers and reports by spouses. Children's externalizing behavior problems were assessed concurrently through written questionnaires by mothers and fathers and in the spring of kindergarten and first, second, and third grades through reports by teachers and peer sociometric nominations. Results of structural equations models demonstrated that mothers' hostile attribution tendencies predicted children's future externalizing behavior problems at school and that a large proportion of this relation was mediated by mothers' harsh discipline practices. These results remained virtually unchanged when controlling for initial levels of children's prekindergarten externalizing behavior problems at home.