Oppositional defiant disorder in childhood is a predictor of later mood disorders. This study assessed whether groups of children can be identified by their course of co-occurring oppositional and depressive symptoms in childhood using group based trajectory modeling. Participants were a cohort of 932 4 or 5 year old offspring of women…

The purpose of this study was to determine risk and protective factors for adult psychiatric disorders in very low birth weight (VLBW, birth weight less than 1,501 g) survivors. 79 of 154 (51%) VLBW subjects recruited at birth were assessed in early adulthood (24-27 years). Participants were screened for a psychiatric disorder; those elevated were…

Nightmares are defined as dreams with strong negative emotions which awaken the dreamer and are common during childhood: cross-sectional data shows the highest prevalence rates between the ages of five and ten. The present longitudinal study was designed to study the stability of nightmares over the course of 2 years. Sleep questionnaires and…

This study investigated the concurrent and longitudinal relations among children's peer victimization, empathy, and emotional symptoms. The sample consisted of 175 children (85 girls, mean age = 6.1 years) recruited from kindergartens in Switzerland and followed for 1 year (Time 2). Parents and teachers reported on the children's emotional…

The aim of the present longitudinal community study was to test whether psychological distress at 13 years of age predicted reported substance use problems in boys and abnormal eating behavior in girls 2 years later. The sample consisted of 500 male and 576 female students. The use of substances was evaluated using a semi-structured interview,…

We have investigated the hypothesis that stress condition will accelerate pubertal maturation in adolescent girls and that faster maturing girls will display more behavioral problems than their on-time or late-maturing peers during pubertal development. Longitudinal data were collected yearly from 1986 to 1997. Parents of 1039 French-speaking…

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the associations between maternal depressive symptoms and perceptions of children's problems. One hundred and nineteen mother-child dyads were followed from the third trimester of pregnancy for almost 10 years. Depressive symptoms and background factors of the mothers and the anticipated/perceived…

The present study examined the concurrent and prospective relation between a select number of potential predictors and symptoms of anxiety among a high-risk community sample of 149 predominately African American children. Parent and child reports of anxiety were assessed in the first and seventh grade. Six domains of childhood risk factors (i.e.,…