Using the Fast Track randomized prevention trial to test the early-starter model of the development of serious conduct problems. (25/472)

The Fast Track prevention trial was used to test hypotheses from the Early-Starter Model of the development of chronic conduct problems. We randomly assigned 891 high-risk first-grade boys and girls (51% African American) to receive the long-term Fast Track prevention or not. After 4 years, outcomes were assessed through teacher ratings, parent ratings, peer nominations, and child self-report. Positive effects of assignment to intervention were evident in teacher and parent ratings of conduct problems, peer social preference scores, and association with deviant peers. Assessments of proximal goals of intervention (e.g., hostile attributional bias, problem-solving skill, harsh parental discipline, aggressive and prosocial behavior at home and school) collected after grade 3 were found to partially mediate these effects. The findings are interpreted as consistent with developmental theory.  (+info)

A biopsychosocial model of the development of chronic conduct problems in adolescence. (26/472)

A biopsychosocial model of the development of adolescent chronic conduct problems is presented and supported through a review of empirical findings. This model posits that biological dispositions and sociocultural contexts place certain children at risk in early life but that life experiences with parents, peers. and social institutions increment and mediate this risk. A transactional developmental model is best equipped to describe the emergence of chronic antisocial behavior across time. Reciprocal influences among dispositions, contexts, and life experiences lead to recursive iterations across time that exacerbate or diminish antisocial development. Cognitive and emotional processes within the child, including the acquisition of knowledge and social-information-processing patterns, mediate the relation between life experiences and conduct problem outcomes. Implications for prevention research and public policy are noted.  (+info)

New evidence for an association between the CSF HVA:5-HIAA ratio and psychopathic traits. (27/472)

OBJECTIVES: To replicate the relation between the CSF HVA:5-HIAA ratio and psychopathic traits previously reported in a pilot group of 22 perpetrators of violent crimes. METHODS: CSF monoamine metabolite concentrations in another 28 violent and sexual offenders, aged 45 or below, referred to pretrial forensic psychiatric investigation, were compared to features of psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). RESULTS: Our previous finding was repeated in the new study group, where the HVA:5-HIAA ratio was strongly associated with psychopathic traits (r = 0.50, p = 0.010), particularly its behavioural aspects (r = 0.523, p = 0.004). In subsamples of individuals from both study groups who had no medication (n = 25) or no current axis I disorder, including a history of mood disorder or substance dependence (n = 21), the HVA:5-HIAA ratio remained strongly associated with all psychopathy factors but most closely with the behavioural features. Retrospective assessments of childhood disruptive symptomatology, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or conduct disorder, analysed in relation to the monoamine metabolites, showed the same association with the HVA:5-HIAA ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Violent and aggressive behavioural traits with childhood onset and adult expression as psychopathic features are associated with changed activity in the brain dopaminergic system, possibly as a result of serotonergic dysregulation.  (+info)

Childhood ADHD and adolescent substance use: an examination of deviant peer group affiliation as a risk factor. (28/472)

Deviant peer group affiliation was evaluated as a risk factor for substance use in adolescents with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Results showed that deviant peer affiliation mediated the relationship between ADHD and substance use, suggesting that children with ADHD are more likely than children without ADHD to become involved with deviant peers and, as a result, more likely to use substances. Moreover, the relationship between deviant peer affiliation and substance use was stronger for adolescents with ADHD, suggesting that once they are immersed in a deviant peer group, adolescents with ADHD are more vulnerable to the negative social influences of that group. This study is the first step in identifying high-risk pathways from childhood ADHD to substance use in adolescence.  (+info)

Witnessing violence--aggression and anxiety in young children. (29/472)

OBJECTIVES: This article provides estimates of the percentage of children aged 4 to 7 who witnessed violence at home. Concurrent, short-term (2 years later) and longer-term (4 years later) associations between witnessing violence and overt aggression, indirect aggression, and anxiety are examined. DATA SOURCE: The data are from the cross-sectional and longitudinal components of the first three cycles of Statistics Canada's National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES: The proportion of children who witnessed violence at home was estimated using weighted cross-sectional data from 1998/99. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine concurrent, short-term and longer-term associations between witnessing violence and overt aggression, indirect aggression, and anxiety. MAIN RESULTS: In 1998/99, an estimated 8% of children aged 4 to 7 were reported to have seen violent behaviour at home. Witnessing violence was concurrently associated with overt aggression for both sexes, indirect aggression among boys, and anxiety among girls. Witnessing violence was predictive of overt aggression two and four years later for both sexes. Girls also had high odds of exhibiting indirect aggression in 1996/97 and anxiety in 1998/99; for boys, elevated anxiety was observed in 1996/97.  (+info)

Psychopathology risk transmission in children of parents with substance use disorders. (30/472)

OBJECTIVE: Children of fathers with substance use disorders are at increased risk for psychopathology, including conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), major depressive disorder, and anxiety disorders. This study examined the distinct influences of parent substance use disorder and other psychopathology in the transmission of the risk for psychopathology to their children. METHOD: The subjects were 1,167 children (ages 6-14 years; 62% were male, 38% were female) from 613 families recruited according to a high-risk paradigm. Of these families, 294 had fathers with a substance use disorder (high-risk group), and 319 had fathers without a substance use disorder or other mental disorder (low-risk group). In all families, father, mother, and children were directly assessed. Mixed-effects ordinal regression analyses controlled for the nested data structure. RESULTS: For conduct disorder, ADHD, major depression, and anxiety disorders, the results indicated that the predominant predictor of specific mental disorders in offspring was a history of the corresponding disorders in both parents. CONCLUSIONS: These results support specific parent-child transmission for childhood psychopathology.  (+info)

A conceptual framework for adaptive preventive interventions. (31/472)

Recently, adaptive interventions have emerged as a new perspective on prevention and treatment. Adaptive interventions resemble clinical practice in that different dosages of certain prevention or treatment components are assigned to different individuals, and/or within individuals across time, with dosage varying in response to the intervention needs of individuals. To determine intervention need and thus assign dosage, adaptive interventions use prespecified decision rules based on each participant's values on key characteristics, called tailoring variables. In this paper, we offer a conceptual framework for adaptive interventions, discuss principles underlying the design and evaluation of such interventions, and review some areas where additional research is needed.  (+info)

Malnutrition at age 3 years and externalizing behavior problems at ages 8, 11, and 17 years. (32/472)

OBJECTIVE: Poor nutrition is thought to predispose to externalizing behavior problems, but to date there appear to have been no prospective longitudinal studies testing this hypothesis. This study assessed whether 1) poor nutrition at age 3 years predisposes to antisocial behavior at ages 8, 11, and 17 years, 2) such relationships are independent of psychosocial adversity, and 3) IQ mediates the relationship between nutrition and externalizing behavior problems. METHOD: The participants were drawn from a birth cohort (N=1,795) in whom signs of malnutrition were assessed at age 3 years, cognitive measures were assessed at ages 3 and 11 years, and antisocial, aggressive, and hyperactive behavior was assessed at ages 8, 11, and 17 years. RESULTS: In relation to comparison subjects (N=1,206), the children with malnutrition signs at age 3 years (N=353) were more aggressive or hyperactive at age 8 years, had more externalizing problems at age 11, and had greater conduct disorder and excessive motor activity at age 17. The results were independent of psychosocial adversity and were not moderated by gender. There was a dose-response relationship between degree of malnutrition and degree of externalizing behavior at ages 8 and 17. Low IQ mediated the link between malnutrition and externalizing behavior at ages 8 and 11. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that malnutrition predisposes to neurocognitive deficits, which in turn predispose to persistent externalizing behavior problems throughout childhood and adolescence. The findings suggest that reducing early malnutrition may help reduce later antisocial and aggressive behavior.  (+info)