Drawing on the self-system model, this study conceptualized school engagement as a multidimensional construct, including behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, and examined whether changes in the three types of school engagement related to changes in problem behaviors from 7th through 11th grades (approximately ages 12-17). In addition,…

Children chronically exposed to stress early in life are at increased risk for maladaptive outcomes, though the physiological mechanisms driving these effects are unknown. Cortisol reactivity was tested as a mediator of the relation between prenatal substance exposure and/or early adversity on adaptive and maladaptive outcomes. Data were drawn…

Using a representative sample of low-income, primarily minority adolescents (N=647, aged 10-14 years at Wave 1), this study examined bidirectional longitudinal relations between nonresident father involvement, defined as contact and responsibility for children's care and behavior, and adolescent engagement in delinquent activities. Autoregressive…

Examined sibling influence on delinquency in 164 brother and sister pairs over 4-year period. Found that sibling similarity for self-reports of delinquent behavior were highly correlated for brothers and sisters. Conditional effects of high hostile-coercive relationships and older sibling delinquency predicted younger sibling delinquency in both…

Assessed interaction between obstetrical complications and early family adversity in predicting violent behavior during childhood and adolescence among 849 boys from low SES areas. Found that elevated scores on scale of obstetrical complications (preeclampsia, umbilical cord prolapse, induced labor) increased risk of being violent at 6 and 17…

Event history analysis, spanning grades 7 through 12, was used to test a developmental model of the timing of first sexual intercourse among boys at risk for delinquency. As predicted, antisocial/delinquent behavior and substance use along with early physical maturity and parental transitions predicted early onset of sexual intercourse. Anxiety…

Examined links between parental knowledge and adolescent delinquent behavior for correlated rates of developmental change and reciprocal associations from age 14 to 18. Found that parent knowledge was negatively correlated with delinquent behaviors at age 14 and knowledge increases over time were negatively correlated with increases in…

Considered (1) the relation between peer socioeconomic status and specific negative outcomes; (2) the possibility that sociometric status serves as a marker variable for negative outcomes; (3) the possibility that rejected children experience more types of problems during adolescence than other children; and (4) which of six predictor variables…

Hypothesized that individual differences in 81 sixth-grade boys' self-restraint would serve as a mediator between family factors in preadolescence and sons' delinquent behavior 4 years later. General family functioning at preadolescence, independent of other scores, predicted boys' level of self-restraint four years later. (MDM)

Mothers provided personality assessments of 350 ethnically diverse 12- and 13-year-old boys using the California Child Q-set procedure to allow the development of scales to measure 5 personality dimensions: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The resulting nomological network related these…

Examined the role of individual characteristics and peer influences in evoking early substance abuse in young boys. Individual characteristics, such as fighting, hyperactivity, oppositional behaviors, and likability, were found to be pivotal in the development of substance abuse--more than friends' deviance. Results suggest that prevention…