Across all cultures, parents have intuitive ideas ("ethnotheories") of what undesirable child characteristics are as well as how to explain them. Yet there have been relatively few cross-cultural comparisons of parents' ethnotheories about the nature and causes of child misbehavior. 108 mothers of 5-year-old children from the United…

We assessed the psychometric properties of the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ), a 30-item questionnaire evaluating social (e.g., disruptive behaviors, bullying) and emotional problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) among children aged 3.5-12 years. Children (n = 1,950, 50.21% boys) were drawn from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child…

The purpose of this research was to determine the influence of two subcomponents of auditory short-term memory on the developmental trajectories of behavior problems. The sample included 7,058 children from the NLSY79--Children and Young Adult survey between the ages 5 and 14 years. Results suggested that anxious/depressed behavior increases…

Background: Many low- and middle-income countries have high levels of violence. Research in high-income countries shows that risk factors in the perinatal period are significant precursors of conduct problems which can develop into violence. It is not known whether the same early influences are important in lower income settings with higher rates…

Two complementary studies of poor and better attenders are presented. To measure emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) different teacher-completed rating scales were employed, and to determine social difficulties, the studies used sociometry and some items from the scales. One study had a longitudinal design. It revealed that, after…

Skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) was examined as a moderator of the association between harsh parenting at age 8 years and growth in child externalizing behavior from age 8 to age 10 (N = 251). Mothers and fathers provided reports of harsh parenting and their children's externalizing behavior; children also provided reports of harsh…

The present study examines the quality of peer relations as a mediator between exposure to IPV (intimate partner violence) and internalizing behaviors in a sample of 129 preadolescents and adolescents (ages 10-18), who were interviewed via telephone as part of a multigenerational, prospective, longitudinal study. Relational victimization is also…

Objective: To examine the relation between parental familism (strong values of attachment to nuclear and extended family members) and youth antisocial behaviors over time. Method: Puerto Rican children 5 to 13 years of age at baseline residing in the South Bronx in New York (n = 1,138) and in the Standard Metropolitan Area in San Juan and Caguas,…

Learning to relate to others begins at birth and carries forward to new relationships, which is why child maltreatment and exposure to intimate partner violence have emerged as powerful risk factors for future coercive and hostile relationship patterns. Although not inevitable, it is more likely that children who are victims of maltreatment will…

Background: Disregard for rules, an important dimension of oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, is frequent during early childhood, but the development of its chronic form has not been studied during this key socialization period. This study aimed to describe the developmental trajectories of disregard for rules during early childhood and…

Transactional theories of development suggest that displaying high levels of antisocial behavior early in life and persistently over time causes disruption in multiple life domains, which in turn places individuals at risk for negative life outcomes. We used longitudinal data from 1,137 primarily African American urban youth (49.1% female) to…

Objectives: This investigation examined developmental pathways between childhood emotional maltreatment and adaptational outcomes in early adolescence. This study utilized a developmental psychopathology perspective in adopting a multidimensional approach to the assessment of different forms of emotional maltreatment and later adjustment outcomes.…

Skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) was examined as a moderator of the association between harsh parenting and child externalizing behavior. Participants were 251 boys and girls (8-9 years). Mothers and fathers provided reports of harsh parenting and their children's externalizing behavior; children also provided reports of harsh parenting.…

We asked 176 mental health clinicians to list factors that place a child at risk for engaging in future antisocial behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to do this in relationship to boys and girls. Listed factors were then coded into broad item categories using the Early Assessment Risk Lists (EARL). Of the 1,695 factors listed, 1,476…

Background: There is uncertainty about the extent to which mildly sub-optimal perinatal characteristics among individuals born near-term (greater than 33 weeks of gestation) are associated with various subsequent childhood problems, including antisocial behavior. There is even more uncertainty about whether the pathway to antisocial behavior…