Neighborhood disadvantage as a moderator of the association between harsh parenting and toddler-aged children's internalizing and externalizing problems.

Neighborhood dangerousness and belongingness were expected to moderate associations between harsh parenting and toddler-age children's problem behaviors. Fifty-five predominantly African American mothers participated with their 2-year old children. Neighborhood danger, neighborhood belongingness, and children's problem behaviors were measured with mothers' reports. Harsh parenting was measured with observer ratings. Analyses considered variance common to externalizing and internalizing problems, using a total problems score, and unique variance, by controlling for internalizing behavior when predicting externalizing behavior, and vice versa. Regarding the common variance, only the main effects of neighborhood danger and harsh parenting were significantly associated with total problem behavior. In contrast, after controlling for externalizing problems, the positive association between harsh parenting and unique variance in internalizing problems became stronger as neighborhood danger increased. No statistically significant associations emerged for the models predicting the unique variance in externalizing problems or models considering neighborhood belongingness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child Personality and Parental Behavior as Moderators of Problem Behavior: Variable- and Person-Centered Approaches.

Parenting × Child Personality interactions in predicting child externalizing and internalizing behavior were investigated in a variable-centered study and a person-centered study. The variable-centered study used data from a 3-year longitudinal study of 600 children 7 to 15 years old at Time 1 and 512 children 10 to 18 years old at Time 2. Parents rated child personality (five factor model), negative control, positive parenting, and child problem behavior, whereas children rated parental behavior. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses showed significant Parenting × Child Personality (benevolence and conscientiousness) interactions, principally for externalizing behavior. The interactions were largely replicable across informants and across time. The person-centered study, which classified participants into 3 types, showed that negative parental control was more related to externalizing behavior for undercontrollers than for resilients. Negative parental control enhanced internalizing behavior for overcontrollers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego control, ego resiliency, and the Five-Factor Model as predictors of behavioral and emotional problems in clinic-referred children and adolescents.

The relations of Ego control (EC), Ego resiliency (ER), and the Five-Factor Model of Personality (FFM) with behavioral and emotional problems were explored among 116 clinic-referred children. Within the EC-ER model, Ego undercontrol was most important in predicting externalizing problems, and both Ego brittleness (the relative absence of ER) and Ego undercontrol made equal contributions to predicting internalizing problems. Within the FFM, Extraversion and Agreeableness were independent predictors of externalizing problems, whereas only Neuroticism predicted internalizing problems. When the EC-ER model was tested against the FFM, the latter model appeared to outperform the former in predicting externalizing but not internalizing problems; when clinical syndrome groups were examined, dimensions from both personality models were differentially salient for children with primary internalizing, externalizing, or comorbid problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family instability and the problem behaviors of children from economically disadvantaged families

This longitudinal study examined the relation between family instability and the problem behaviors of children from economically disadvantaged families. Family instability was assessed when the children were ages 5 and 7 and included number of residence changes, changes of intimate caregiver relationships, and recent negative life events. The results showed direct concurrent relations between family instability and preschool children's externalizing behavior in the context of other family process variables, relations between subsequent family instability and 1st-grade children's internalizing behavior (i.e., with preschool behavior ratings controlled), and an effect for persistent instability across grade. Moderator effects were also found for child variables, including gender, temperamental adaptability, and prior externalizing scores.     

Perceptions of control, competence, and contingency as influences on the stress-behavior symptom relation in school-age children.

Analyzed data from 154 school-age children and their mothers to examine the relations between stress, perceived competence and contingency, and behavior symptoms. Analyses focused on the relative merits of unidimensional vs multidimensional measures of control in predicting symptoms. The stress of undesirable life events and behavior symptoms were related in the expected direction. Multiple regression models with R–2 ranging from .11 to .14 (all ps?     

Attachement et problèmes de comportements intériorisés et extériori?s auto-rapportés à la période scolaire.

The association between attachment and self-reported externalizing and internalizing behavior problems was examined for a diverse SES French-Canadian sample of 108 children. Attachment classifications were assigned on the basis of reunion behavior with mother when the children were approximately 6 years old. Child problem behavior was assessed two and a half years later using the Dominic test. Results indicated that boys with disorganized attachment and children with ambivalent attachment reported a higher level of externalizing problems then did secure children. Moreover, disorganized children also reported a higher level of internalizing problems than secure children. Child assessments using the Dominic in conjunction with a measure of separation-reunion behavior at age 5 to 7 can play an important role in the identification of school-aged children at risk for aggressive or anxious-depressive adaptive problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family and legal indicators of child adjustment to divorce among families with young children.

This research used structural equation modeling to examine relations among family dynamics, attorney involvement, and the adjustment of young children (0-6 years) at the time of parental separation. The article presents baseline data (N = 102 nonresidential fathers and N = 110 primary caretaking mothers) from a larger longitudinal study. Results showed that the effects of parental conflict on child outcomes were mediated by paternal involvement, the parent-child relationship, and attorney involvement. A scale assessing parental gatekeeping yielded two significant factors: Spouse's Influence on Parenting and Positive View of Spouse. Paternal involvement was related to children's adaptive behavior, whereas negative changes in parent-child relationships predicted behavior problems. Mothers who experienced greater psychological symptomatology were less likely to utilize an attorney, which in turn predicted greater internalizing problems in their children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment at Early School Age and Developmental Risk: Examining Family Contexts and Behavior Problems of Controlling-Caregiving, Controlling-Punitive, and Behaviorally Disorganized Children.

Preschool to school-age trajectories of 242 children, including 37 with insecure-disorganized and 66 with insecure-organized attachment patterns, were examined. Child attachment and stressful life events (the latter retrospectively) were measured at ages 5-7, and mother-child interactive quality, parenting stress, marital satisfaction, and teacher-reported behavior problems were evaluated concurrently and 2 years earlier. Results indicated that all three disorganized subgroups had poorer mother-child interactive patterns and more difficult family climates than secure or insecure-organized children. The controlling-punitive group showed significant increases in maternal reports of child-related stress between preschool and school age. The controlling-caregiving group showed greater likelihood of loss of a close family member, and mothers of the insecure-other group reported lower marital satisfaction and greater likelihood of their own or a spouse's hospitalization. Controlling-punitive children had higher externalizing scores, and controlling-caregiving children higher internalizing scores, than secure children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Applicability of Cognitive Mediational and Moderational Models to Explain Children's Depression Inventory Factor Scores in Urban Youth.

This investigation examined whether cognition serves as a direct factor, mediates, or moderates the relationship between stressful life events and Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992) factor scores in urban, ethnic minority youth. Ninety-eight middle school students completed measures of stressful life events, cognition (cognitive triad and locus of control), and depressive symptoms. Results provided support for both mediating and moderating models of depression. Specifically, the cognitive triad mediated the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptom categories of negative mood, ineffectiveness, and anhedonia, while it interacted with stressful life events to predict negative self-esteem. In addition, locus of control was found to interact with stressful life events to predict anhedonia. Finally, the diathesis-stress model was not supported when predicting the CDI Interpersonal Problems factor score, which taps externalizing behaviors. Implications for school psychology research and practice include the importance of including measures of stressful life events and cognitive styles in assessment of children's social-emotional functioning. In addition, results highlight the need to target children's perceptions for intervention since they appear to play a significant role in psychological reactions to stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring abuse stress and negative cognitive appraisals in child sexual abuse: validity data on two new scales

The validity of two measures assessing degree of stress associated with sexual abuse was examined in a sample of 48 girls who had been sexually abused. The Checklist of Sexual Abuse and Related Stressors (C-SARS) assessed negative life events that were part of or were related to the abuse, and the Negative Appraisals of Sexual Abuse Scale (NASAS) assessed negative cognitive appraisals of threat, harm, or loss associated with the abuse. Total scores for victim reports of both stressful events and negative appraisals were positively and significantly related to two other measures of abuse severity: therapist ratings of abuse stress and the number of types of sexual abuse reported. Stressful event scores were also related to aggressive behavior problems, sexual concerns, and total symptom scores on the Child Behavior Checklist. Negative cognitive appraisal scores were related to victims' self-reports of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and to parents reports of child depression and total symptoms. Regression analyses indicated that there were significant effects of negative appraisals on internalizing symptoms when controlling for the level of stressful events experienced. The results suggest that negative life events and negative appraisals associated with sexual abuse are valid constructs that help account for variability in mental health outcomes among child victims. The implications of these results and future research directions in examining variable outcomes among sexual abuse victims are discussed.     

Children's classroom behavior: The unique contribution of family organization.

Sixty-three 2-parent families participated in a study examining whether family organization—cohesion, parental leadership, and strong family subsystems—is related to teachers' perceptions of children's classroom behavior in 1st grade. Independent observers assessed whole-family organization and the quality of the interaction process in marital and parent-child dyads from videotapes of mothers, fathers, and children working together on a structured (difficult puzzle) and unstructured (building a model) task. Results indicate that adaptive family organization during the difficult puzzle task makes a significant, unique contribution to the prediction of children's externalizing behavior, over and above the quality of marital interaction and parenting style. No significant relationship was found between adaptive family organization in either task and teachers' perceptions of children's internalizing behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental Cascades: Linking Academic Achievement and Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms Over 20 Years.

A developmental cascade model linking competence and symptoms was tested in a study of a normative, urban school sample of 205 children (initially 8 to 12 years old). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms and academic competence were assessed by multiple methods at the study outset and after 7, 10, and 20 years. A series of nested cascade models was tested through structural equation modeling. The final model indicated 2 hypothesized cascade effects: Externalizing problems evident in childhood appeared to undermine academic competence by adolescence, which subsequently showed a negative effect on internalizing problems in young adulthood. A significant exploratory effect was consistent with internalizing symptoms containing or lowering the net risk for externalizing problems under some conditions. These 3 cascade effects did not differ by gender and were not attributable to effects of IQ, parenting quality, or socioeconomic differences. Implications are discussed for developmental models of cascades, progressions, and preventive interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal relatedness, self-definition, and their motivational orientation during adolescence: A theorical and empirical integration.

The authors examined a theoretical model linking interpersonal relatedness and self-definition (S. J. Blatt, 1974), autonomous and controlled regulation (E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 1985), and negative and positive life events in adolescence (N = 860). They hypothesized that motivational orientation would mediate the effects of interpersonal relatedness and self-definition on life events. Self-criticism, a maladaptive form of self-definition, predicted less positive events, whereas efficacy, an adaptive form of self-definition, predicted more positive events. These effects were fully mediated by the absence and presence, respectively, of autonomous motivation. Controlled motivation, predicted by self-criticism and maladaptive neediness, did not predict negative events. Results illustrate the centrality of protective, pleasure-related processes in adaptive adolescent development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors associated with child mental health service use in the community

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of parent, family, and child factors with mental health services need and utilization. METHOD: Possible determinants of services need and utilization were assessed in a general population sample of 2,227 children aged 4 to 18 years. RESULTS: 3.5% of the total sample had been referred for mental health services within the past year. The most potent factors associated with service need and utilization were the child's problem behaviors (both internalizing and externalizing) and academic problems and family stress. Socioeconomic factors and the child's sex were not in itself associated with help-seeking factors. Parental psychopathology, life events, and family psychopathology lowered the parents' threshold for evaluating the child's behavior as problematic but did not increase the likelihood of referral. CONCLUSION: Referred children are more likely to live in families under stress than are children with the same level of problems who live in well-functioning families. Clinicians and researchers who make inferences from findings in clinical samples should realize, therefore, that children from problem families are overrepresented in their samples.     

Conflict in the Latino parent-youth dyad: The role of emotional support from the opposite parent.

In the present study, the author examined the independent and interactive effects of support and conflict within a triadic familial context (mother-father-youth). The sample consisted of 6th- and 7th-grade inner-city Latino youths (N = 329; 142 boys, 187 girls). Using multiple regression techniques, level of conflict with either mother or father was consistently related to higher levels of both boys' and girls' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Interaction effects were significant in predicting boys' externalizing behavior problems--a supportive parental relationship significantly reduced the risk associated with high conflict with the opposite parent. For boys' internalizing problems, mother and father support served a protective function regardless of the level of conflict with the opposite parent. Conflict with the mother was especially detrimental for Latina girls--highly conflictive mother-daughter relationships were associated with increased internalizing and externalizing symptomatology, and father support added little in predicting symptomatology. The study adds to the understanding of risk and protection in Latino families and underscores the importance of examining the parent-youth relationship from a triadic perspective, noting similarities and differences in mother-son, mother-daughter, father-son, and father-daughter relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The socioemotional behaviors of children with SLI: Social Adaptation or Social Deviance?

Two models of the relationship between socioemotional behavior and verbal abilities are compared: Social Adaptation and Social Deviance. The socioemotional integrity of 17 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 20 unaffected children who were age-matched (AM) was examined using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Teacher's Report Form (TRF) at kindergarten and first grade. All CBCL and TRF syndrome scale means for both groups were within normal limits. Significant group x respondent interaction effects were observed; teachers, and not parents, rated the children with SLI as having more social and internalizing behavioral problems than their AM peers. Significant differences between groups were restricted to internalizing, social, and attention problems. Very little congruence or stability over time was observed in the clinical ratings. The outcomes support a Social Adaptation Model of socioemotional behavior and language impairment. Implications for the clinical management of children with SLI are discussed.     

Intellectual stability in children with unilateral brain lesions

Developmental differences in behavior and self-perception were examined in a group of 44 preschool and school-age children referred for evaluation of sexual abuse and 41 comparison children with no history of sexual abuse, matched on age and gender, and from a similar socioeconomic background. Children suspected of having been sexually abused were rated by their parents as having more internalizing and externalizing problems than comparison children. When children rated their self-competence and social acceptance, there were no group differences between children based on their abuse status; however, there was significant within-group variation among the children suspected of having been sexually abused. Preschool children had elevated scores of perceived competence and social acceptance, and school-age children had depressed scores. There were no age differences among the children in the comparison group. The results suggest that among children suspected of abuse, not only does their self-perception vary by their developmental level, but preschool children may respond with elevated perceptions of themselves. Focusing on individual differences in children's response to suspicions of sexual abuse enables us to identify risk and protective factors that contribute to the psychological outcomes of child sexual abuse.     

Fathering in family context and child adjustment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study focuses on relations between fathers’ behavior in family context and children’s adjustment, including the roles of paternal depressive symptoms, paternal marital conflict behaviors, paternal parenting, and children’s emotional security. Participants included 235 families with a six-year-old child, with families followed longitudinally each year for three years. In terms of fathers’ adjustment, paternal problem drinking was related to paternal negative marital conflict behaviors and decreased positive parenting, which was associated with children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. Fathers’ depressive symptoms were directly related with children’s internalizing problems. Children’s emotional security was an intervening variable in relations between father’s behavior in family context and children’s development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recent Life Events Preceding Suicide Attempts in a Personality Disorder Sample: Findings From the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study.

Few studies have examined the relationship between life events, suicide attempts, and personality disorders (PDs), in spite of the strong associations between PDs and suicidal behavior, and the poor coping strategies often exhibited by these individuals. The authors examined whether participants with PDs who attempted suicide during the first 3 years of a prospective, longitudinal study were more likely to experience specific life events in the month during and preceding the suicide attempt. Of 489 participants with PDs, 61 attempted suicide during the 3-year, follow-up interval. Results indicated that negative life events, particularly those pertaining to love-marriage or crime-legal matters, were significant predictors of suicide attempts, even after controlling for baseline diagnoses of borderline PD, major depressive disorders, substance use disorders, and a history of childhood sexual abuse. Therefore, certain types of negative life events are unique risk factors for imminent suicide attempts among individuals with PDs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The teacher-student relationship as a developmental context for children with internalizing or externalizing behavior problems.

Children with significant behavior problems are at risk for poor school adaptation and a host of deleterious school outcomes. Given the time children spend in school, there is a need to better understand the normative contexts and processes within schools that may enhance the positive adaptation of children with significant behavior problems. This study evaluated one such context, the teacher-student relationship, specifically, the degree of closeness and conflict in the relationship, between urban, American elementary schoolchildren with significant externalizing or internalizing behavior problems and their teachers. The results suggest that the qualities of the teacher-student relationship predict children's successful school adjustment. Having a relationship with a teacher characterized by warmth, trust, and low degrees of conflict was associated with positive school outcomes. Some moderation effects were noted, including differential effects for warmth on the reading achievement of children with externalizing distress, and conflict on the school adaptation of children with internalizing problems. Results are discussed in light of theory and school-based intervention and prevention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)