School-Based Child-Centered Play Therapy with Hispanic Children: Outcomes and Cultural Consideration.

Hispanic children are the fastest growing segment of the population. Numerous factors place them at-risk for school success. This study examined the effects of Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) compared to a curriculum-based small group intervention with 29 Hispanic children referred for school counseling due to behavior problems. Children were assigned to treatment groups by random drawing within grade levels. Treatment was provided by Hispanic bilingual counselors. Statistical analysis revealed that, according to parent report, children receiving CCPT showed statistically significant decreases in externalizing behavior problems, compared to the curriculum-based treatment group. Effect size calculations revealed that CCPT demonstrated a large treatment effect on externalizing behavior problems and a moderate treatment effect on internalizing behavior problems. Cultural considerations and recommendations for practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of child deviance: Roles of child behavior, parental depression, and marital satisfaction.

Investigated relationships among parental adjustment, parental perception of child behavior, and an independent measure of child behavior, using 61 consecutive referrals to a university psychology clinic of 5–14 yr olds with home or school problems. 61 mothers (41 of whom were married) and 41 fathers completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the Marital Adjustment Test, and the Conners Parent Rating Scale. Children's teachers completed the Conners Teacher Rating Scale. Mothers' ratings of their children's behavior were significantly correlated with teachers' ratings, but fathers' ratings were not. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that teachers' ratings accounted for the greatest amount of variance in the prediction of mothers' ratings of child externalizing problems, followed by maternal depression. Results confirm earlier findings of a relation of maternal depression to maternal perception of child externalizing behavior problems but indicate a stronger correlation between maternal ratings and independent measures of child behavior. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Utility of intelligence tests for treatment planning, classification, and placement decisions: Recent empirical findings and future directions.

Intelligence testing in schools continues to be a frequent behavior among many school psychologists that creates a lucrative market for test publishers. Each year, between 1.5 and 1.8 million intelligence tests are administered by school psychologists. The typical school psychologist spends approximately two-thirds of his or her time in special education eligibility determination. This article maintains that intelligence tests contribute little if any information useful for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of instructional interventions for children. This argument is supported by the virtual absence of empirical evidence supporting the existence of aptitude?×?treatment interactions. We also suggest that intelligence tests are not particularly useful in making differential diagnostic and classification determinations for children with mild learning problems. Further, school study teams often ignore results of intelligence testing in making classification and placement decisions. We argue that intelligence testing is not a cost-beneficial use of school psychologists' time and should be replaced with assessment procedures directly related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of instructional interventions for children and youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of externalizing problems in children: The role of longitudinal data.

Prospective longitudinal studies that pertain to the stability, developmental pathways, and long-term outcome for the 2 primary forms of externalizing behavior problems (conduct problems [CPs] and hyperactivity [HA]) are described. Treatment outcome studies for CPs and HA with at least 1 yr of follow-up data are reviewed. The implications of longitudinal research for the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of externalizing behavior problems in children are discussed. Greater attention must be paid to issues related to comorbidity, developmentally appropriate assessments, and long-term outcome of interventions. Longitudinal-experimental investigations that serve to delineate developmental pathways as well as assess the effects of developmentally sensitive, comprehensive interventions are recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working nonstandard schedules and variable shifts in low-income families: Associations with parental psychological well-being, family functioning, and child well-being.

Longitudinal data from the New Hope Project-an experimental evaluation of a work-based antipoverty program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin-was used to explore concurrent and lagged associations of nonstandard schedules and variable shifts with parental psychological well-being, regularity of family mealtimes, and child well-being among low-income families. Working a combination of variable shifts and nonstandard hours was associated concurrently with lower teacher-reported school performance and engagement and higher levels of externalizing behavior problems. Fixed nonstandard schedules were associated with lagged decreases in parent-reported school performance, whereas working variable shifts was associated with lagged increases in parent-reported school performance. (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)     

Early onset conduct problems: Does gender make a difference?

Baseline assessments of 64 girls and 158 boys (aged 4–7 yrs) diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder or early-onset conduct problems, or both, were examined for gender-linked differences in behavioral symptoms. Child variables, parenting variables, and family variables were correlated with teacher reports of externalizing problems at school and independent observations of externalizing problems at home before treatment to determine whether there were any gender-specific differences in risk factors. Follow-up data (1–2 yrs posttreatment) were also examined for any gender differences in predictors of treatment outcome. Results indicated significant gender differences in behavioral symptoms according to independent home observations. However, reports of gender differences in behavioral symptoms were influenced by the gender of the reporting agent. The only gender-specific risk factor found was father "negativity" which was correlated with boys' behavior at home but not girls' behavior. Concerning differences in treatment outcome, variables regarding parents' psychological states and parenting style were the best predictors for girls but not for boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting preschoolers' externalizing behaviors from toddler temperament, conflict, and maternal negativity.

Rarely have researchers elucidated early childhood precursors of externalizing behaviors for boys and girls from a normative sample. Toddlers (N=104; 52 girls) were observed interacting with a same-sex peer and their mothers, and indices of conflict-aggression, emotion and behavior dysregulation, parenting, and child externalizing problems were obtained. Results indicated that boys initiated more conflictual-aggressive interactions as toddlers and had more externalizing difficulties 2 years later, yet girls' (not boys') conflict-aggressive initiations at age 2 were related to subsequent externalizing problems. When such initiations were controlled for, emotional-behavioral undercontrol at age 2 also independently predicted externalizing problems at age 4. Moreover, the relation between conflict-aggressive initiations at age 2 and externalizing problems at age 4 was strongest for dysregulated toddlers. Finally, the relation between age 2 conflict-aggressive initiations and age 4 externalizing problems was strongest for those toddlers who incurred high levels of maternal negativity. These findings illustrate temperament by parenting connections in the development of externalizing problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior problem trajectories and first-grade cognitive ability and achievement skills: A latent growth curve analysis.

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the authors investigated whether there was evidence of intraindividual stability in behavior problems over time as well as whether children with higher levels of behavior problems at 24 months and more rapid increases in behavior problems prior to school entry performed more poorly on 1st-grade tests of cognitive ability and achievement than their peers. Three findings were noteworthy. First, there was evidence of both intraindividual and interindividual variability in behavior problems between 24 months and 1st grade. Second, children with higher initial levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors at 24 months had lower cognitive ability and achievement scores in 1st grade. Finally, children with more rapid increases in internalizing behaviors over time had lower cognitive ability scores in 1st grade; this association did not exist for externalizing behaviors. Implications for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School functioning in early adolescence: Gender-linked responses to peer victimization.

Research indicates that peer victimization contributes to poor school functioning in childhood and adolescence, yet the processes by which victimization interferes with school functioning are unclear. This study examined internalizing and externalizing problems as domain-specific mediators of the association between subtypes of peer victimization (relational, physical) and school functioning (engagement, achievement) with a cross-sectional sample of 337 early adolescents. School engagement was examined further as a proximal process that intervenes in the associations between internalizing and externalizing problems and achievement. Gender differences in these associations were assessed. As expected, internalizing problems showed stronger links with relational than with physical victimization and partially mediated the influence of both on engagement for girls but not boys. Externalizing problems partially mediated the influence of both subtypes of victimization on school functioning for girls and physical victimization for boys. Notably, engagement was a robust mediator of the contributions of internalizing problems and physical victimization to achievement for girls and externalizing problems to achievement for girls and boys. Findings also suggest that physical (but not relational) victimization partially mediates the link between internalizing and externalizing problems and school functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital Adjustment, Child-Rearing Disagreements, and Overreactive Parenting: Predicting Child Behavior Problems.

Using structural equation modeling, the authors evaluated the hypothesis that the relation between marital adjustment and children's behavior problems is mediated by child-rearing disagreements, whose effects are mediated by parents' overreactive discipline. In a community sample, fully or partially mediated models of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems of 3- to 7-year-old boys (N = 99) and girls (N = 104) were supported for mothers and fathers in 7 of 8 cases. Child-rearing disagreements always mediated the relation of marital adjustment and child behavior problems, and overreactive discipline was a final mediator in 3 cases. More variance was accounted for in mothers' than fathers' ratings. For mothers' ratings, the most variance was accounted for in boys' externalizing and girls' internalizing behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduced cognitive ability in alcohol dependence: Examining the role of covarying externalizing psychopathology.

Reduced executive cognitive ability is associated with alcohol dependence (AD) and other comorbid externalizing disorders. Working memory capacity, short-term memory, conditional associative learning, and intelligence were assessed in a sample (N = 477) with variation in lifetime histories of externalizing problems (conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, substance problems); this included a subsample (n = 285) with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnosis of AD. Individuals with both AD and a history of childhood conduct disorder (CCD) scored lower on cognitive measures compared to those with AD and no history of CCD. Structural equation models showed that reduced ability in all cognitive domains was predicted by a latent externalizing factor reflecting covariation among lifetime problems with alcohol, drugs, childhood conduct, and adult antisocial behavior and was not uniquely related to any one problem. Further, for those with AD, the externalizing factor was associated with reductions in all the domains of cognitive ability. The results suggest that the reduced executive cognitive ability observed in AD individuals is partly accounted for by a general latent externalizing factor rather than alcohol-related problems per se. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does life satisfaction moderate the effects of stressful life events on psychopathological behavior during adolescence?

Psychologists within a positive psychology framework have proposed the existence of a set of psychological strengths that buffer against the development of psychopathology. To date, most research efforts in positive psychology have focused on adults. This longitudinal study tested the prediction that adolescents' judgments of life satisfaction moderate the influence of stressful life events on the subsequent development of psychopathological behavior. Using a sample of 816 middle and high school students, the study demonstrated support for the moderational model for externalizing behavior outcomes, but not internalizing behavior problems. Specifically, adolescents with positive life satisfaction (vs. those who were dissatisfied with their lives) were less likely to develop later externalizing behaviors in the face of stressful life events. The study also revealed that adolescent life satisfaction reports show moderate stability across a one-year time frame and independently predict subsequent externalizing behavior even while controlling for prior levels of externalizing behavior... (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychiatric diagnoses of previous suicide attempters, first-time attempters, and repeat attempters on an adolescent inpatient psychiatry unit

OBJECTIVE: To compare psychiatric diagnoses of hospitalized adolescents who (a) have made previous but no recent suicide attempts, (b) have recently made their first suicide attempt, (c) have recently made a second or subsequent attempt, or (d) have never made an attempt. METHOD: Semistructured psychiatric diagnostic interviews were used to determine psychiatric diagnoses and history of recent and previous suicidal behavior of 269 consecutively admitted adolescents to an inpatient psychiatric facility. Forty-nine previously suicidal youths, 28 first-time attempters, and 33 repeat attempters were compared with 159 nonsuicidal youths in prevalence of Axis I psychiatric disorders and psychiatric comorbidity with affective disorder. RESULTS: Previous attempters and repeat attempters both reported more affective disorders, whereas first-time attempters reported more adjustment disorders than nonsuicidal youths. Previous attempters and nonsuicidal youths reported the most externalizing disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Previous attempters on an inpatient unit have multiple psychiatric problems. Like repeat attempters, they often are depressed, but like nonsuicidal youths, they also exhibit significant externalizing behaviors. Interventions with these adolescents should focus not only on immediate presenting problems, but also on ameliorating their long-term risk of posthospitalization suicidal behavior.     

Infancy parenting and externalizing psychopathology from childhood through adulthood: Developmental trends.

Developmental models and previous findings suggest that early parenting is more strongly associated with externalizing problems in early childhood than it is in adolescence. In this article, the authors address whether the association of poor-quality infancy parenting and externalizing problems “rebounds” in adulthood. Poor-quality infancy parenting was associated with externalizing problems at kindergarten and first grade (mother report) as well as at 23 and 26 years (self report). Infancy parenting was not significantly associated with either mothers’ or youths’ reports of externalizing problems at 16 years. These findings are consistent with the notion that poor-quality infancy parenting is a risk factor for externalizing problems in developmental periods for which externalizing behavior is most deviant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperamental resistance to control increases the association between sleep problems and externalizing behavior development.

This study examined the moderating effects of temperamental resistance to control on the link between development of sleep problems and development of externalizing behaviors over a 5-year period. Resistance to control was assessed with mothers' retrospective reports of temperament in infancy, provided when children were 5 years of age. Sleep problems were assessed with mother reports on an annual basis from age 5 to age 9. Externalizing behaviors were assessed with teacher reports on an annual basis from age 5 to age 9. A cross-domain latent growth curve model indicated that sleep problem trajectories were positively associated with externalizing behavior trajectories only for children high in resistance to control. In addition, resistance to control was positively associated with initial (age 5) sleep problems and initial (age 5) externalizing behaviors. The authors speculate that the development of sleep problems promotes the development of behavior problems for resistant children, whose self-regulatory abilities are especially tenuous. Implications for prevention and treatment of conduct problems are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial outcomes of children of unipolar depressed, bipolar, medically ill, and normal women: A longitudinal study.

The psychosocial functioning of children of unipolar depressed, bipolar, medically ill, and psychiatrically normal women was studied over a 2-yr period. 96 children aged 8–16 yrs were assessed at 6-mo intervals on Child Behavior Checklist behavior problems, social competence, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, academic performance, and school behavior. The children of unipolar mothers showed significantly poorer functioning on all measures as compared with the other 3 groups of children, including bipolar offspring. A greater proportion of children in the unipolar group also had relatively chronic, clinically significant problems in psychosocial functioning. Children of bipolar women did not differ from children of psychiatrically normal women. Results are discussed in terms of consequences of children's continuing exposure to maternal depression and attendant stressors, as well as the contribution of social and academic difficulties in a vicious cycle of maladjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A tale of two methods: Comparing regression and instrumental variables estimates of the effects of preschool child care type on the subsequent externalizing behavior of children in low-income families.

We apply instrumental variables (IV) techniques to a pooled data set of employment-focused experiments to examine the relation between type of preschool childcare and subsequent externalizing problem behavior for a large sample of low-income children. To assess the potential usefulness of this approach for addressing biases that can confound causal inferences in child care research, we compare instrumental variables results with those obtained using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. We find that our OLS estimates concur with prior studies showing small positive associations between center-based care and later externalizing behavior. By contrast, our IV estimates indicate that preschool-aged children with center care experience are rated by mothers and teachers as having fewer externalizing problems on entering elementary school than their peers who were not in child care as preschoolers. Findings are discussed in relation to the literature on associations between different types of community-based child care and children's social behavior, particularly within low-income populations. Moreover, we use this study to highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses of each analytic method for addressing causal questions in developmental research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maltreatment, competency deficits, and risk for academic and behavioral maladjustment.

Maltreatment was predicted to negatively affect children's academic and behavioral adjustment through the creation of deficits in academic engagement, social competencies, ego resiliency, and ego control. Teachers' comprehensive evaluations, school records, and camp counselors' ratings were obtained for 229 socioeconomically disadvantaged children (ages 5–12 years), 146 of whom had been maltreated. Maltreated children showed less academic engagement, more social skills deficits, and lower ego resiliency than nonmaltreated comparison children. Maltreated children manifested multiple forms of academic risk and showed more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. The effects of maltreatment on academic maladjustment were partially mediated by academic engagement, whereas maltreatment's effects on behavior problems were mediated fully by social competencies and ego resiliency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)