Child Characteristics as Moderators of the Association Between Family Stress and Children's Internalizing, Externalizing, and Peer Rejection

We examined child characteristics of coping strategies, age, and gender as moderators of the association between family stressors and internalizing, externalizing, and peer rejection in a sample of 228 3rd–5th grade children. Consistent with previous research, children in the current study who experienced a higher number of family stressors were significantly less well-accepted by classmates. This association was not moderated by children's coping strategies or child age. Child gender did moderate the association between family stressors and internalizing behavior. Specifically, as the number of stressors increased, internalizing behavior decreased among girls, but not boys. The results are discussed in terms of the role of child variables in explaining the variability in children's responses to family stress.     

Reactive temperament traits and behavioural problems in children: the mediating role of effortful control across sex and age

This study examines the mediating role of effortful control between reactive temperament traits (negative affectivity and extraversion) and children’s internalizing and externalizing behavioural problems. The sample was composed of 424 non-clinical children from 3 to 6 years of age (60% male). Use of a structural equation model revealed effortful control-mediated relations between reactive temperament traits and behavioural problems. Nevertheless, uniquely and directly, negative affect predicted externalizing problems and extraversion predicted internalizing problems. Assessment of invariance by children’s sex showed that the mediating role of effortful control tends to be stronger for externalizing problems in boys than in girls. Results showed no significant age differences. According to these results, effortful control as a method of self-regulation seems to be an essential process through which reactive temperament traits affect a child’s psychological adjustment.     

Role of Secondary Stressors in the Parental Death–Child Distress Relation

This study examined the psychological consequences and secondary stressors associated with death of a parent. The sample (N = 116) consisted of 26 youths who had lost a parent to homicide, 45 youths who had lost a parent to natural death, and 45 nonbereaved youths. Youngsters completed face-to-face interviews, while their guardians completed measures assessing the children's functioning. Results based on both child and guardian reports indicated that parental death was associated with an increase in secondary stressors, regardless of the mode of death. Findings based on guardian reports also revealed that parental death was related to increased internalizing distress, and that parental death due to homicide was related to increased externalizing distress. Furthermore, secondary stressors mediated the parental death–child distress relation such that parental death led to an increase in stressors, which in turn led to increased child distress. Implications for secondary and tertiary preventive interventions are discussed.     

Assessment of incarcerated juvenile delinquents: Agreement across raters and approaches to psychopathology

The purpose of the current study was to examine the agreement across three informants (youth, teacher, caretaker) when rating behaviors of incarcerated juvenile delinquents. Furthermore, the agreement between a dimensional approach (Child Behavior Checklist) and a categorical approach (DSM-III-R) of assessing behavior was examined. Fifty-two delinquent youth were assessed with a structured interview. In addition, the youth, teacher, and caretaker completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The results indicated significant correlations across the teacher and caretaker for externalizing types of problems. The youth report form of the CBCL did not correspond to either adult informant. However, the ratings by the teacher and caretaker were related to externalizing types of problems, primarily hyperactivity/inattention, derived from the structured interview with the delinquent. The results suggest that, in the psychological assessment of incarcerated juvenile delinquents, agreement across informants is dependent on multiple factors, including type of behavior assessed and the approach utilized in assessment.This work was supported, in part, by the Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council of Georgia, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.     

Choosing or Being Chosen by Aggressive–Disruptive Peers: Do They Contribute to Children's Externalizing and Internalizing Problems?

The goal of this study was to investigate the extent to which aggressive-disruptive peers contribute to the development of externalizing and internalizing problems in children, while controlling for children's own behavior. We examined 2 sets of peers: (1) those that the child nominated as friends, and (2) those that nominated the child as a friend. The participants were 236 boys and girls attending 3rd to 5th grade at the beginning of the study, who were followed over a period of 2 years. Results showed that choosing more aggressive peers on the nomination procedure was associated with more externalizing problems and self-reported depressive symptomatology over time. On the other hand, being liked by more aggressive children generally was not associated with elevated externalizing or internalizing problems.     

Who are the comorbid adolescents? Agreement between psychiatric diagnosis,youth, parent,and teacher report

The investigators examined the rates of psychiatric comorbidity for externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, using semistructured diagnostic interview and parent, teacher, and youth report on the Achenbach checklists. The study also evaluated the effects of conjunctive, compensatory, and disjunctive data combination strategies. Using the same data and identical diagnostic thresholds, between 5 and 74% of 189 youths presenting to an outpatient clinic were identified as having comorbid internalizing and externalizing problems. Parent report and semistructured interview indicated the highest comorbidity rates. Despite good cross-source agreement (rs .29–.58), there was very little agreement about which specific youths presented with comorbid internalizing and externalizing problems (kappas .14–.40). Results also indicate that single DSM-IV disorders, such as bipolar disorder, can manifest comorbid patterns of behavior problems on checklists.     

Associations among mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers,maternal parenting stress,and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors

This study examined the array of associations among the emotional valence and the coherence of mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers, mothers’ reported parenting stress, and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. To evaluate maternal representations, 55 mothers were interviewed using the Five Minute Speech Sample procedure (FMSS; Magaña et al., 1986), which was coded for criticism and positive comments (Magaňa-Amato, 1993), as well as coherence (Sher-Censor & Yates, 2015). Mothers also completed the Parenting Stress Index − Short Form (PSI; Abidin, 1997) to evaluate their parenting stress and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5–5; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) to assess their toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that parenting stress was associated with maternal criticism and fewer positive comments in the FMSS, but not with the coherence of mothers’ FMSS. Parenting stress, criticism, and lower coherence in the FMSS were associated with maternal reports of externalizing behaviors. Only parenting stress and lower coherence in the FMSS were related to mothers’ reports of internalizing behaviors of the child. Thus, the emotional valence and the coherence of mothers’ representations of their relationship with their child and parenting stress may each constitute a distinct aspect of parenting and contribute to the understanding of individual differences in toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Implications for research and practice with families of toddlers are discussed.     

Child care quality and Dutch 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds' socio‐emotional outcomes: Does the amount of care matter?

High amounts of early child care have sometimes been linked to higher levels of behaviour problems, while high‐quality child care has more often been related to fewer behaviour problems and more social competence. The current study investigated whether the level of centre emotional and behavioural support (child care quality) interacted with the amount of child care in predicting children's socio‐emotional behaviour. Participants were 417 children (mean age = 27 months) from 61 Dutch daycare centres. The amount of daycare ranged from 1 to 5 days per week (M = 2.3 days). Multi‐level analyses showed that, independent of the amount of daycare, high levels of centre emotional and behavioural support were related to more caregiver‐rated social competence 1 year later. In addition, children spending 3.5 days or more in highly supportive daycare centres showed the lowest levels of parent‐rated externalizing behaviour 1 year later. The findings emphasize (a) that the combined effects of the amount and quality of child care are important and (b) that high‐quality early child care is related to children's socio‐emotional development. Further policy, practice, and research implications are discussed.

Highlights

• We studied in a Dutch sample how the amount and quality of daycare interacted in relation to children's socio‐emotional outcomes.
• High levels of daycare quality were related to more teacher‐rated social competence.
• Children spending 3.5 days or more in highly supportive daycare centers showed less parent‐rated externalizing behavior.

     

Interparental Conflict and Youth Problem Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

We examined the proposition that interparental conflict is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in youth ages 5 to 18. This examination was done by conducting a meta-analysis of 348 statistical effects from 68 studies. The average effect size (d-value) was .32. There was considerable variability among effect sizes and this variability was associated with the average time since separation for separated/divorced parents, the socioeconomic status composition of the sample, and average parental education in the sample. The variability among effect sizes also was associated with the source of the informant used to assess interparental conflict and youth problem behaviors. Surprisingly, many of the other study characteristics we coded were not associated with variability in the effect sizes.     

Locus of control as a mediator of the association between attachment and children’s mental health

Locus of control—the expectation that one is in control of one’s outcomes in life—is linked to well-being. The authors explored one of the possible antecedents of locus of control such as secure children’s attachment. The hypothesis was that locus of control acts as a mediator of the association between children’s attachment and their mental health, in terms of depression, anxiety (internalizing problems), and aggression (externalizing problems). Participants were 206 children with ages ranging from 8 to 14 years. The authors obtained data from teachers as well as by self-report. Structural equations modelling yielded significant results for both a direct path from insecure attachment to internalizing problems and an indirect pathway in which locus of control functions as a mediating variable between children’s attachment and internalizing problems. Although the data were consistent with the mediated pathway with regard to internalizing problems, different findings emerged for aggression. Insecure attachment was a significant predictor of aggressive behavior, while locus of control was not a mediator between attachment and aggressive behavior. The authors’ findings confirm the mediating role of the locus of control between attachment and internalizing problems, but not between attachment and externalizing ones.     

On the Theories and Problems of Adolescence

Temptation behavior was studied in four groups of elementary school children (control, please-experimenter, competition, please-experimenter/competition) in an attempt to assess the influence of intangible incentives upon resistance to temptation. The results indicated that the frequency of transgression in both young and old males was unrelated to the experimental manipulations. Female Ss, on the other hand, while unresponsive to “experimenter warmth,” exhibited a much higher incidence of cheating when given a competitive set. This was true of both young and old females. The implications of these findings for research using measures of resistance to temptation are discussed.     

Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Model and Child Psychopathology: Laboratory and Questionnaire Assessment of the BAS and BIS

The Behavioral Approach System (BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) are widely studied components of Gray's sensitivity to reinforcement model. There is growing interest in integrating the BAS and BIS into models of risk for psychopathology, however, few measures assess BAS and BIS functioning in children. We adapted a questionnaire measure and reaction time task from adult studies to assess the BAS and BIS in a sample of 9-12 year olds (N = 63; 42% female). A continuous performance task was also administered to assess physiological correlates of the BAS and BIS. Factor analysis supported 3 subdimensions of the BAS (Drive, Reward Responsivity, and Impulsivity/Fun seeking), and one dimension of the BIS (sensitivity to punishment). Results supported the utility of the questionnaire measures and reaction time task as assessments of BAS and BIS functioning. Moreover, these measures were associated with internalizing and externalizing problem behavior as expected. High levels of impulsivity/fun seeking, but not drive or reward responsivity, were associated with high levels of externalizing problems, whereas high levels of sensitivity to punishment were associated with high levels of internalizing behavior problems. The relation between physiological indices and caregiver reports of the BAS, BIS, and problem behavior were complex and not consistent with expectation.