A Family Systems Approach to Behavioral Training with Parents of Autistic Children

This paper reviews briefly the use of behavioral procedures and parent training techniques with parents of autistic children. Potential hazards that may arise when the clinician fails to be sensitive to the family context are examined. Behavioral clinicians are urged to undertake behavioral parent training from a family systems context and thereby enhance the likelihood of more enduring changes for the autistic child and the family as a whole. Case illustrations are provided.     

The Reciprocal Relations Between Teachers’ Perceptions of Children's Behavior Problems and Teacher–Child Relationships in the First Preschool Year

To examine the reciprocal relations between teacher–child relationships and children's behavior problems, the authors analyzed cross-lagged longitudinal data on teacher–child relationships and children's internalizing and externalizing problems using a structural equation modeling approach. The homeroom teachers of 105 first-year preschoolers aged 2–3 years filled in the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale and the Child Behavior Checklist/2–3, first at 3 months after the children's preschool entrance and then at the end of the first preschool year. Results showed significant cross-wave reciprocal relations between externalizing problems and teacher–child conflict and significant cross-wave relation from early internalizing problems to later teacher–child conflict. However, the cross-wave associations between internalizing and externalizing problems and teacher–child closeness were not significant.     

婴儿期外显问题行为的发生与表现及成因分析

外显问题行为是指一组表现在外的、反映了儿童对外部环境消极反应的行为。研究表明婴儿最早于8个月时便已出现外显问题行为,且婴儿期这类行为主要表现为愤怒/发脾气、不顺从/反抗、攻击、破坏性、过度活跃、注意力不集中等,其成因可从早期经验因素、遗传与环境的交互作用等方面解释。此外,外显问题行为的干预研究可从差别易感性理论入手,从而为特定气质类型以及携带可塑性基因的婴儿提高了外显问题行为的干预效果。本文在梳理上述研究的基础上,对该领域研究的局限性进行了小结并对未来研究的方向进行了展望。     

Executive functions and processing speed in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities and externalizing behavior problems

Several studies suggest impaired executive functions (EFs) in children with externalizing behavior problems and average intelligence (e.g., IQ > 85). Even though children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID) are at higher risk of developing externalizing behavior problems compared to children with average intelligence, it is not yet clear if impaired EFs are also associated with the occurrence of externalizing behavior problems in children with MBID. In the current study, we therefore assessed three EF components (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) as well as processing speed in children with MBID and externalizing behavior problems (n = 71) versus children with MBID with no such problems (n = 70). This was accomplished using a well-established computerized test battery. Even after IQ was controlled for, the children with MBID and externalizing behavior problems showed more impaired working memory performance. Differences for inhibition performance and processing speed were also found but less consistent across the tasks used to measure these aspects of EF. Cognitive flexibility was not more impaired in children with both MBID and externalizing behavior problems relative to children with MBID only. Our findings highlight working memory as a potential target to enhance the treatment of children with MBID and externalizing behavior problems.     

Prospective linkages between peer victimization and externalizing problems in children: a meta-analysis

Previous meta-analytic research has shown both concurrent and prospective linkages between peer victimization and internalizing problems in youth. However, the linkages between peer victimization and externalizing problems over time have not been systematically examined, and it is therefore unknown if externalizing problems are antecedents of victimization, consequences of victimization, both, or neither. This study provides a meta-analysis of 14 longitudinal studies examining prospective linkages between peer victimization and externalizing problems (n = 7,821). Two prospective paths were examined: the extent to which peer victimization at baseline predicts future residualized changes in externalizing problems, as well as the extent to which externalizing problems at baseline predict future residualized changes in peer victimization. Results revealed significant associations between peer victimization and subsequent residualized changes in externalizing problems, as well as significant associations between externalizing problems and subsequent residualized changes in peer victimization. Hence, externalizing problems function as both antecedents and consequences of peer victimization.     

Automatic thoughts as a predictor of internalizing and externalizing problems in Chinese adolescents: A test of the cognitive content‐specificity hypothesis with age effects

The main aim of the current study was to test the cognitive content‐specificity hypothesis across internalizing and externalizing problems in Chinese adolescents. The participants consisted of 2,158 adolescents aged 11–19 years from three middle schools, and they completed a number of measures assessing a wide range of automatic thoughts and syndromes related to internalizing and externalizing problems. Multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that thoughts about social threats, personal failure and hostility were the strongest predictors of anxiety, depression, and externalizing problems, respectively. Age was a statistically significant, albeit modest, moderator of the relationship between automatic thoughts about social threat and anxiety. The current study provides support for the cognitive content‐specificity hypothesis in internalizing and externalizing problems in a Chinese sample.     

Children with behaviour problems: the influence of social competence and social relations on problem stability,school achievement and peer acceptance across the first six years of school

The aims of the present study were to investigate the role for problematic children of the child's social competence, teacher relations and behaviour with peers for later problem persistence, school performance and peer acceptance, in terms of moderating (protective and exacerbating) and independent effects. Groups of children with externalizing (n=26) and internalizing (n=25) problems and a non‐problematic group (n=44) were followed from grade 1–6. Teachers rated behaviour problems and social competence in the first, third and sixth grades, the teacher–child relationship in third grade, and school achievement in sixth grade. Behaviour with peers was assessed in observations in later elementary school. Peer acceptance was assessed through peer nominations in sixth grade. Both problem groups had lower social competence, school achievement and peer acceptance in sixth grade than the non‐problematic group. There were moderating and independent effects of social competence, teacher and peer relations on outcomes, but these applied mainly to children with internalizing problems. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Low social inclusion in childhood: adjustment and early predictors

The principal aim of the present study was to obtain a deeper understanding than hitherto of the concurrent correlates and prospective predictors of loneliness and poor peer acceptance, both falling under the umbrella term low social inclusion. Problematic and socially competent behaviours were investigated as possible predictors of low social inclusion in grade 6, as defined by self‐rated loneliness and degree of peer non‐acceptance, respectively. In grade 6 808 children participated whereof 323 were followed longitudinally from first grade. Loneliness in grade 6 was distinctively associated with high levels of internalizing problems, concurrently as well as prospectively. Peer acceptance, on the other hand, emerged as a complex, multifaceted aspect, with concurrent, independent predictions from both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviours as well as social competence, although prospective analyses found early externalizing problems to be the strongest predictor of peer acceptance. Moderating effects of social competence were sparse, although peer nominated social competence buffered peer acceptance for children with high levels of aggression in the concurrent analyses and social competence boosted peer acceptance for children with low problem levels in the predictive analyses. Social competence did not appear to buffer the negative impact of early problem behaviours on peer relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

多主体评定青少年外化问题行为的一致性问题

以529名城乡初一学生为被试进行短期追踪研究,考察了青少年自我、同伴和教师三种主体对学校情境中的青少年外化问题行为评定的一致性问题。采用相关分析、多质多法分析、验证性因素分析和检出率分析对三种主体的评定结果进行了分析比较。结果显示,青少年自我、同伴和教师对外化问题行为的评定只存在中低程度的一致性;通过同伴评定测得的四种外化问题行为群之间的相关性高于通过教师评定和自我报告测得的结果,而自我报告测得的四种外化问题行为群之间的相关性最低。不同报告主体对青少年外化问题行为评定的跨时间稳定性存在差异,同伴评定的稳定性最高,其次为教师评定,青少年自我报告的稳定性最低。通过同伴评定测得的结果对多主体评定的解释率高于教师评定和自我报告的结果,自我报告的结果对多主体评定的解释率最低。三种主体所检出的不同形式的外化问题行为的人数比例没有呈现出规律性的差异,只有通过同伴评定检出的不同形式的外化问题行为者的人数比例随着检出标准的提高而减小