The relations of effortful control and reactive control to children's externalizing problems: a longitudinal assessment

In this study, we examined the role of negative emotionality as a moderator of the relations of effortful control and overcontrol (versus undercontrol) with children's externalizing problem behaviors; we also examined the longitudinal relations among these variables. Teachers' and parents' reports of children's negative emotionality, effortful control, overcontrol and externalizing problem behaviors were obtained at T1 (N=199; M age=89.51 months) and again 2 (T2) and 4 years (T3) later. In addition, children's effortful control was assessed with an observed measure of persistence. In a T3 concurrent structural equation model, effortful control, but not overcontrol, was negatively related to children's T3 externalizing problem behaviors. In regression analyses, the negative relation between T3 effortful control and externalizing problem behaviors was strongest at high levels of T3 negative emotionality. In the best-fitting longitudinal structural equation model, both T1 effortful control and T1 overcontrol negatively predicted externalizing problems at T1, whereas T3 effortful control (but not T3 overcontrol) was significantly negatively related to T3 externalizing problem behaviors when controlling for T1 externalizing problem behaviors.     

A longitudinal study of the impact of parental divorce on adolescents' evaluations of self and parents

Children's evaluations of their parents and themselves were obtained over a three-year period. In the interim, as well as prior to the study, some of these children experienced parental divorce and/or unhappy intact families. This report will compare these children's evaluations of themselves and their parents to the evaluations of children who had experienced an intact familial configuration. Notably, two sets of troubled children emerged from this study--an acutely troubled group and a chronically troubled group. These findings are discussed.     

Stress-buffering effects of social support: A longitudinal study

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of stress and social support in a longitudinal design. A sample of mature female students took part in a study that measured stress, social support, and psychiatric symptoms at two points 6 months apart. The results showed that the Time 1 measure of social support was a significant predictor of Time 2 symptoms when Time 1 symptoms were controlled for. Furthermore, a stress-buffering effect was obtained for Emotional support, but not for Practical support in conjunction with life events that occurred in the follow-up phase. Some of the conditions under which stress-buffering effects should be obtained are briefly considered.     

A longitudinal analysis of friendships and substance use: bidirectional influence from adolescence to adulthood

The reciprocal relation between deviant friendships and substance use was examined from early adolescence (age 13-14) to young adulthood (age 22-23). Deviance within friendships was studied using direct observations of videotaped friendship interaction and global reports of deviant interactions with friends as well as time spent with friends. Substance use was assessed through youth self-report at all time points. Multivariate modeling revealed that substance use in young adulthood is a joint outcome of friendship influence and selection processes. In addition, substance use appears to influence the selection of friends in late adolescence. Findings suggest that effective preventions should target peer ecologies conducive to substance use and that treatment should address both the interpersonal underpinnings and addiction processes intrinsic to chronic use, dependence, and abuse.     

A longitudinal analysis of personality structure and adolescent substance use

Within the context of a prospective longitudinal research design, the structure of personality and initial levels of drug use were used to predict, multivariately, later drug use among male and female adolescents. The findings indicated that personality and belief measures of nonconventionality provide a significant increment in the prediction of later drug use beyond a level achieved by knowing initial usage rates. In addition, other personality and belief measures yield further increments in the prediction of subsequent drug use. Developmentally, the results revealed a differentiation of drug use patterns across the year's time, with one pattern primarily reflecting alcohol use, and a second pattern primarily reflecting use of marijuana and ‘hard’ drugs. While both patterns were related to measures of nonconventionality, certain personality features distinguished between them. Emergent use of marijuana and ‘hard’ drugs was related to depression, mistrust and attractiveness, while emergent alcohol use was related to generosity, ambition, agility and cheerfulness. These results were cross-validated in two samples of subjects. Implications of the findings for adolescent psychosocial development are discussed.     

BIS and BAS interact with perceived parental affectionless control to predict personality disorder symptomatology

The objective of this study was to examine if and how two basic dimensions of temperament-behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral approach system (BAS) sensitivity-might interact with exposure to perceived parental affectionless control (AFC) to predict personality disorder (PD) symptomatology. Measures of BIS, BAS, AFC, and PD symptomatology were administered to a large nonclinical sample (n = 318). As predicted, exposure to AFC was positively associated with PD symptoms in general, BIS was positively associated with Cluster A and C symptoms, and BAS was positively associated with Cluster B symptoms. BIS and BAS were also found to interact with each other to predict Cluster B symptomatology. In addition, BIS, BAS, and maternal AFC interacted to predict Cluster A symptomatology. In the latter case, it was found that individuals who reported high BIS, high BAS, and high maternal AFC reported the highest overall level of Cluster A symptoms.     

The relation of peer social support and psychological symptomatology during the transition to junior high school: A two-year longitudinal analysis

Studied the longitudinal relation of peer social support and psychological symptomatology among a sample of 143 early adolescents during a two-year period spanning the transition from elementary school to junior high school. Correlational analyses indicated strong inverse relations between peer support and symptoms, both cross sectionally and across time. Prospective analyses investigated the degree to which prior levels of peer support were related to subsequent symptoms after controlling for initial levels of symptoms and, conversely, the degree to which prior symptoms were related to future levels of peer support after controlling for initial levels of support. A significant prospective effect for peer support was found only for the specific period encompassing the school change. Prospective effects for symptoms were more numerous and of longer duration. The discussion emphasizes how the relation among support, stress, and mental health may differ over the course of a major life transition. Implications are also considered for the timing of preventive interventions.     

A multivariate model of gender differences in adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems.

Gender differences observed in interpersonal and self-critical vulnerabilities, reactivity to stressful life events, quality of relationships, and self-concepts inform a multivariate theoretical model of the moderating effects of gender on internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence. To test this model, data were collected in a 1-year prospective study from an ethnically diverse sample of 460 middle school students. Increases in girls' internalizing symptoms, compared with boys', were partly explained by greater stability in girls' interpersonal vulnerabilities and greater magnitude in coefficients linking girls' relationships with parents and peers and internalizing problems. Boys' risks for externalizing problems, compared with girls', were partly explained by the greater stability in boys' vulnerability to self-criticism. Coefficients for most pathways in the model are similar for boys and girls.     

Korean adolescents' "examination hell" and their use of free time

A 15-year-old girl's daily life is a vivid testimony to the hardships the Korean high school student is faced with. She leaves home for school at 7 A. M., taking two lunch bags, one for supper, with her. After regular classes end at 5 P.M., she attends the "autonomous study classes" studying by herself until 10 P.M. The exhausted young girl returns home at about 10:30 P.M. and gets to bed around midnight at the earliest. Under the current system, this will be her life for three years. Of course, there is no guarantee she will be able to enter the university she wants. She has no family life, except for Sundays, and they hardly ever see each other, let alone get together at the dining table for dinner. People call this "ipsi chiok," entrance examination hell. ["High School Students Deprived of Spring," 1996, p. 13].     

Effects of maternal employment patterns on adolescents' substance use and other risk-taking behaviors

Employment for mothers with school-age children has generated great concern regarding its possible harmful effects on adolescents and their families. We examined the influence of maternal employment on the risk-taking behavior of adolescents in two-parent families. Three hundred and eighty-nine high school students completed a 48-item survey in which they indicated their mother's and father's employment patterns, and their own risk-taking behaviors (e.g., substance use, driving while under the influence). Results showed no significant effects of maternal employment on adolescent risk-taking behaviors.     

Correlates of parental control and autonomy support in an interdependent culture: A look at Ghana

It is unclear whether, similar to research findings in Western societies, autonomy support is associated with positive child outcomes, and forceful control with negative outcomes in collectivist societies. A two-part study (N = 190 Ghanaian sixth graders) examined the relations of parental structure, control, and autonomy support in Ghana with child outcomes, and whether autonomy support was at odds with Ghanaian children’s values of interdependence and respect for elders. Results showed that structure was related to cognitive perceived competence, parental control was related to controlled regulation around school work and decreased academic engagement, and autonomy support was negatively related to depression and positively related to autonomous forms of motivation, engagement in school, and interestingly, children’s endorsement of collectivist cultural values. The importance of distinguishing between parental control and provision of structure, and the implication of the findings for understanding the role of parental autonomy support in diverse cultures, are discussed.     

Social support and coping: A longitudinal analysis

This paper examined the interrelation between social support and coping in a longitudinal study of 380 clinically depressed individuals. A two-wave, two-variable panel analysis revealed that connections between support and coping varied by gender and across the specific sources of support and modes of coping examined. In the family context, increases in support were related to increases in problem-solving coping among women and to a decline in emotional discharge coping among men. In the work context, increases in social support were related to a greater reliance on affective regulation among women and to more information/support seeking among men. Overall, the results suggest that specific aspects of support and coping processes jointly mediate the link between stress and adjustment among depressed individuals.     

A longitudinal examination of risky sexual behaviors among Canadian and Italian adolescents: Considering individual, parental, and friend characteristics

In this study, two longitudinal models of early adolescent risky sexual behaviors (RSB) were compared using a pooled sample of 267 Canadian and Italian adolescents (55% females; 53% Canadians) assessed yearly from grade 8 to 10. We focused on parenting practices (monitoring, control, limit setting), adolescent problem behaviors (antisocial behaviors, substance use) and their friends' deviance (antisocial behaviors, substance use) as predictors of condom use frequency and lifetime number of sexual partners. The socialization model postulates that youths' problem behaviors and RSB are behaviors learned within the friendship network where deviancy training can occur. The selection model posits that delinquent youth tend to affiliate with each other, and that RSB is one of many behaviors that can form the basis of selection. Using structural equation modeling, this study showed that the socialization model was the most accurate to explain the emergence of RSB. A full mediation of parenting practices, passing through deviant friends and youths' problem behavior, was observed for condom use. The same process applied to number of sexual partners, but a direct effect for parenting practices was also found.     

Twelfth-grade student work intensity linked to later educational attainment and substance use: new longitudinal evidence

Long hours of paid employment during high school have been linked to a variety of problem behaviors, but questions remain about whether and to what extent work intensity makes any causal contribution. This study addresses those questions by focusing on how 12th-grade work intensity is associated with substance use and educational attainment in the years following high school. It uses 2 nationally representative longitudinal data sets from the Monitoring the Future project, spanning a total of 3 decades. One data set tracks 8th graders for 8 years (modal ages 14-22) and provides extensive controls for possible prior causes; the second, larger data set tracks 12th graders for up to 12 years (to modal ages 29-30) and permits assessment of possible short-term and longer term consequences. Findings based on propensity score matching and multivariate regression analyses are highly consistent across the 2 sets of data. All findings show that more fundamental prior problems, including low academic performance and aspirations, make substantial contributions to substance use and long-term academic attainment (selection effects), but the findings also suggest that high work intensity during high school has long-term costs in terms of college completion and perhaps cigarette use.     

The role of educational track in adolescents' school burnout: A longitudinal study

Background Transition from comprehensive school to later educational tracks is challenging for many adolescents. The present three‐wave longitudinal study conducted in Finland considers this issue from the perspective of school burnout. Aims The study investigated the extent to which school‐related burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of inadequacy) changes during the transition from comprehensive school to an academic or vocational track. Sample The participants of the present study were 658 ninth graders, who filled in questionnaires twice during their final term of comprehensive school and once after the transition to post‐comprehensive schooling. Methods The participants filled in the school burnout inventory and supplied background information on gender and academic achievement. The data have analysed by latent growth curve modelling. Results The results showed that adolescents on an academic track experienced more exhaustion at school than those on a vocational track. Moreover, among adolescents on an academic track both the level of cynicism and inadequacy at school increased across time. In turn, among adolescents on a vocational track inadequacy at school decreased across time while cynicism increased before the school transition and decreased thereafter. Girls experienced more overall school burnout than boys, and adolescents whose academic achievement was lower experienced a higher level of burnout than adolescents who did better at school. Conclusions The results support the stage‐environment fit theory according to which the nature of the environments in academic and vocational education are more important than the transition per se for changes in how adolescents think and feel about school (see Eccles & Midgley, 1989 ).     

Children's beliefs about substance use: an examination of age differences in implicit and explicit cognitive precursors of substance use initiation.

Cognitive models conceptualize attitudes and beliefs about substance use (SU) as proximal mediators of a variety of risk and protective factors for SU. Researchers have distinguished implicit and explicit cognition, but limited research has examined this distinction in the early stages of SU. The authors' goal was to examine age differences in implicit and explicit SU cognitions to clarify proximal cognitive processes that may be involved in early SU. Alcohol- and cigarette-naive children (N=76; 69.7% male; M age=11.8 years) completed the laboratory-based experiment. Likelihood ratings of costs and benefits of use assessed explicit cognitions, and a priming task assessed implicit cognitions. Regardless of age, children perceived costs of drinking alcohol and smoking as more likely than benefits. This discrepancy was smaller for older children, although this age difference was weaker for costs and benefits of cigarette use. Strong positive implicit alcohol use cognitions were apparent regardless of age. However, age differences were found for implicit cigarette use cognition. Older children were more positive about cigarette use. Findings suggest the importance of distinguishing explicit and implicit cognition for etiological models of early SU.     

Linking antisocial behavior, substance use, and personality: an integrative quantitative model of the adult externalizing spectrum

Antisocial behavior, substance use, and impulsive and aggressive personality traits often co-occur, forming a coherent spectrum of personality and psychopathology. In the current research, the authors developed a novel quantitative model of this spectrum. Over 3 waves of iterative data collection, 1,787 adult participants selected to represent a range across the externalizing spectrum provided extensive data about specific externalizing behaviors. Statistical methods such as item response theory and semiparametric factor analysis were used to model these data. The model and assessment instrument that emerged from the research shows how externalizing phenomena are organized hierarchically and cover a wide range of individual differences. The authors discuss the utility of this model for framing research on the correlates and the etiology of externalizing phenomena.     

Effortful control: factor structure and relation to externalizing and internalizing behaviors

Effortful control, a temperamentally based ability to inhibit a dominant response and activate a subdominant response, was assessed on 3 occasions using a comprehensive, age-appropriate behavioral battery in this 4-year longitudinal study of children (N = 103) from toddlerhood to early school age. The focus was twofold: to explore the structure of effortful control in a normally developing sample and to examine the relations between effortful control and adaptive functioning. Exploratory factor analyses supported the contention that effortful control is a complex, multidimensional construct with longitudinally stable factors. Effortful control was also significantly associated with mother-reported total behavior problems in a nonlinear fashion, with lower and higher levels of effortful control contributing to higher total problem scores. These findings have implications for the assessment of temperament in children and, most importantly, for the study of nonlinear contributions of temperament to early childhood behaviors.     

Reciprocal relations between adolescent substance use and delinquency: a longitudinal latent variable analysis

Reciprocal relations between self-reported substance use and delinquency were examined through the analysis of 4-wave panel data collected from 1,218 high school students. A longitudinal, latent-variable framework was used to investigate interrelationships between changing patterns of generalized involvement in these 2 problem behaviors, while simultaneously accounting for specificity in drug use (e.g., marijuana use) and delinquency (e.g., theft). Analyses revealed that a model of bidirectional effects between polysubstance use and general delinquency was plausible for boys but not for girls. For boys, the effect of delinquency on substance use was small but consistent over time, whereas the effect of substance use on delinquency was larger but restricted to the earlier waves of the study. Implications for the question of whether or not substance use and delinquency have causal connections are discussed.     

Gender differences and developmental change in externalizing disorders from late adolescence to early adulthood: A longitudinal twin study

Using data from over 1,000 male and female twins participating in the Minnesota Twin Family Study, the authors examined developmental change, gender differences, and genetic and environmental contributions to the symptom levels of four externalizing disorders (adult antisocial behavior, alcohol dependence, nicotine dependence, and drug dependence) from ages 17 to 24. Both men and women increased in symptoms for each externalizing disorder, with men increasing at a greater rate than women, such that a modest gender gap at age 17 widened to a large one at age 24. Additionally, a mean-level gender difference on a latent Externalizing factor could account for the mean-level gender differences for the individual disorders. Biometric analyses revealed increasing genetic variation and heritability for men but a trend toward decreasing genetic variation and increasing environmental effects for women. Results illustrate the importance of gender and developmental context for symptom expression and the utility of structural models to integrate general trends and disorder-specific characteristics.