Adolescent marijuana use has become increasingly more problematic compared with the past; thus, understanding developmental processes that increase the liability of marijuana use is essential. Two developmental pathways to adolescent substance use have been proposed: an externalizing pathway that emphasizes the expression of aggressive and…

It is unknown whether sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is prospectively associated with depression in adolescence, and possible processes linking SCT to depression remain unexamined. Using a longitudinal study with three timepoints over a two-year period, the current study tested the indirect effects of SCT on depression via peer victimization,…

In a previous study, reactive criminal thinking or cognitive impulsivity mediated the relationship between parental knowledge and delinquency. This study sought to determine whether cognitive impulsivity also mediated the relationship between parental knowledge and childhood aggression. A path analysis was performed on a sample of 438 early…

Antisocial behavior and school aggression in youth has been linked with affective, interpersonal, self-attributional, and behavioral characteristics; these traits have often been associated with psychopathic behaviors among adults. Psychopathic traits were examined in nonclinically-referred youth exhibiting antisocial and aggressive behavior.…

Although many studies of personality and aggression focus on multidimensional traits and higher order personality disorders (e.g., psychopathy), lower order, unidimensional traits may provide more precision in identifying specific aspects of personality that relate to aggression. The current study includes a comprehensive measurement of lower…

This study investigated the relationships between three psychopathic dimensions (callousness/unemotionality, grandiosity/manipulation, and impulsivity/irresponsibility) and reactive and instrumental aggression in a community sample of early adolescents (N = 243, age M = 12.29, SD = 1.18). The moderating role of moral disengagement (MD) was also…

Background: Behavioural interventions conceptualise self-injurious behaviour (SIB) as developing from early repetitive behaviours through acquisition of homeostatic functions in regulating stimulation and subsequent shaping into SIB through socially mediated or automatic operant reinforcement. Despite high success rates, such interventions rarely…

The purpose of this study was to examine university students' aggressive behavioral tendencies. Students ("n" = 405) at a Midwestern University, were selected as study sample. This study hypothesized that demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, class standing, racial minority status, and G.P.A. score) and study variables (e.g.,…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a longitudinal examination of predictors of sexual aggression among male juvenile offenders. Four hundred and four adolescent males between the ages of 14 and 17 years were recruited from juvenile probation offices to take part in a prospective study of substance use and sexual risk. At baseline,…

Numerous studies show that intelligence and impulsiveness are important predictors of academic achievement in adolescence. However, it is not clear what contribution is made by the big five personality traits, because some studies suggest that Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Openness to experience are predictors while others show precisely the…

The goal of this study is twofold: (1) to assess brain anatomical differences between children meeting diagnostic criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and healthy controls, and (2) to investigate whether morphological brain characteristics associated with ODD differ in boys and girls. Eight-year-old participants (N = 38) were scanned…

We explored two unanswered questions about the role of alcohol use in sexual behavior. First, we considered whether alcohol use temporally precedes and predicts changes in sexual behavior assessed as the number of sexual partners, whether the reverse pattern holds, or whether the association reflects a common, external cause. Second, we assessed…

The goal of the current study was to determine the extent to which the perceived self-regulation deficits across behavioral, cognitive, and emotional domains seen in children with ADHD explain the association between the severity of ADHD symptoms and parenting stress. Participants for this study included 80 children (mean age = 10 years, 9 months)…

If a mother is stressed or anxious while pregnant her child is more likely to show a range of symptoms such as those of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, aggression or anxiety. While there remains some debate about what proportion of these effects are due to the prenatal or the postnatal environment, and the role of…

This study presents evidence on the reliability and construct validity of the Dutch version of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI), a self-report instrument for psychopathic traits in adolescent boys and girls. In a sample of 776 Dutch non-referred adolescents, the YPI was found to have good internal consistency. Furthermore, exploratory…