Externalizing Behavior in at-Risk Preadolescents: Relationships among Effortful Control, Affective Experiences, and Autonomic Psychophysiology

AbstractPreventing problem behavior requires an understanding of earlier factors that are amenable to intervention. The main goals of our prospective longitudinal study were to trace trajectories of child externalizing behavior between ages 3 and 10 years, and to identify patterns of developmentally significant child and parenting risk factors that differentiated pathways of problem behavior. Participants were 218 3-year-old boys and girls who were reassessed following the transition to kindergarten (age 5–6 years) and during the late school-age years (age 10). Mothers contributed ratings of children's externalizing behavior at all three time points. Children's self-regulation abilities and theory of mind were assessed during a laboratory visit, and parenting risk (frequent corporal punishment and low maternal warmth) was assessed using interview-based and questionnaire measures. Four developmental trajectories of externalizing behavior yielded the best balance of parsimony and fit with our longitudinal data and latent class growth analysis. Most young children followed a pathway marked by relatively low levels of symptoms that continued to decrease across the school-age years. Atypical trajectories marked chronically high, increasing, and decreasing levels of externalizing problems across early and middle childhood. Three-year-old children with low levels of effortful control were far more likely to show the chronic pattern of elevated externalizing problems than changing or low patterns. Early parental corporal punishment and maternal warmth, respectively, differentiated preschoolers who showed increasing and decreasing patterns of problem behavior compared to the majority of children. The fact that children's poor effortful regulation skills predicted chronic early onset problems reinforces the need for early childhood screening and intervention services.

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Coparenting behavior moderates longitudinal relations between effortful control and preschool children’s externalizing behavior

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02009.x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

pp. 698-706 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan ◽

Arielle H. Weldon ◽

J. Claire Cook ◽

Evan F. Davis ◽

Catherine K. Buckley

Keyword(s):

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Effortful Control

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Group Intervention with Second Graders at Risk for Behavioral Problems: A Pilot Study

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1997.80.2.415 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 80 (2) ◽

pp. 415-418 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Sara C. Castillo ◽

George R. Holmes ◽

Michael L. Cuccaro ◽

Kathy Gardner

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Behavior Problems ◽

Behavioral Problems ◽

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Group Intervention ◽

Second Graders ◽

Target Children

A 7-session-group intervention with four successfully adapting children and two with emerging behavior problems was conducted. Pre-posttest data showed reductions in teachers' ratings of externalizing behavior for each of the target children.

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Parenting, anger, and effortful control as predictors of child externalizing behavior

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025417692898 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 248-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Cynthia L. Smith ◽

Kimberly L. Day

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Effortful Control ◽

Externalizing Behaviors ◽

Future Research ◽

Child Characteristics ◽

Maternal Report ◽

Child Externalizing Behavior ◽

Controlling Behaviors

Externalizing behaviors observed in early childhood have been found to be stable, particularly for boys, but little research has investigated the antecedents of these behaviors, especially how the antecedents may differentially relate to externalizing behaviors in boys and girls. The goal of this study was to explore predictors of externalizing behaviors concurrently in toddlerhood and longitudinally to preschool. When children ( n = 140) were 30–36 months old, maternal supportive and controlling behaviors were observed, and children’s effortful control and anger were measured through observations and maternal report. Mothers reported on children’s externalizing behavior during toddlerhood and approximately 2 years later ( n = 116). Although mean level differences were not found between boys and girls, effortful control was differentially related to externalizing behaviors in toddlerhood. Higher levels of effortful control were associated with less externalizing behaviors for boys but not for girls. Additionally, anger was positively related to externalizing behaviors. Few associations were found for maternal behaviors, which emphasizes the importance of child characteristics in externalizing behaviors. Our findings emphasize how future research should continue to examine relations of early antecedents to concurrent and later externalizing behaviors even if mean level sex differences are not found.

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Siblings of youths with chronic conditions: a school-based survey

International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health ◽

10.1515/ijamh-2018-0247 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Audraine Le Boudec ◽

Christina Akre ◽

Yara Barrense-Dias ◽

André Berchtold ◽

Joan-Carles Suris

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Chronic Condition ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Potential Effect ◽

Bivariate Analysis ◽

Intact Families ◽

Violent Behaviors ◽

Healthy Siblings ◽

Using Data

AbstractPurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the differences between youths with a sibling affected by a chronic condition or a disability (SCCD) and their peers with healthy siblings.MethodUsing data from the second wave of GenerationFRee study, we compared adolescents from each gender with healthy siblings to adolescents with SCDD on demographical, familial, internalizing and externalizing behavior variables. Subsequently we repeated the analysis excluding from each group adolescents who suffered from a chronic condition or disability themselves.ResultsAt the bivariate and multivariate level, among those with SCDD, healthy females reported more somatic symptoms, healthy males more violent behaviors, and both genders lived more often in non-intact families. When considering both healthy and unhealthy adolescents, at bivariate analysis female adolescents with SCDD were more likely to have a poorer relationship to their mother, to be unhealthy, to smoke, to be at risk for disordered eating and to report somatic symptoms. At multivariate level, only the association with SCDD and smoking remained. Male adolescents with SCDD, at both bivariate and multivariate analyses, were more likely to be unhealthy and to live in larger and non-intact families.ConclusionHealthy adolescents with an SCDD are more at risk of somatic symptoms and violent behaviors than their peers with healthy siblings. Health professionals in contact with adolescents should always consider them with a systemic approach. Parents should be informed about the potential effect on the siblings of a CDD child, but also reassured, as adolescents with SCDD are not different from their peers with healthy siblings.

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Explicit and implicit self-esteem in youth with autism spectrum disorders

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361320961006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 136236132096100

Author(s):

Renske van der Cruijsen ◽

Bianca E Boyer

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

At Risk ◽

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Study Results

Although the link between self-esteem and psychopathology has been well established, studies on self-esteem in individuals with autism spectrum disorder are lacking. In this study, we aimed to (1) compare explicit and implicit self-esteem of youth with autism spectrum disorder to typically developing peers and to (2) explore relationships of implicit-, explicit-, and discrepant self-esteem measures with co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems in youth with autism spectrum disorder. For this purpose, 25 individuals with autism spectrum disorder and 24 individuals as age- and intelligence quotient–matched controls aged 8–16 years participated in this study. Results showed lower explicit self-esteem in autism spectrum disorder compared to typically developing youth and no differences in implicit self-esteem between groups. In youth with autism spectrum disorder, low explicit self-esteem was related to co-occurring depression symptoms, whereas lower implicit self-esteem was related to externalizing symptoms. These results show that youth with autism spectrum disorder are at risk for developing low explicit self-esteem, which appears to be related to often co-occurring internalizing symptoms. This emphasizes the need to focus more on self-esteem in assessment and treatment of youth with autism spectrum disorder. Lay abstract Having a stable and good self-esteem is important for maintaining a good mental health. However, having low self-esteem is a risk factor for developing depressive, anxious, or uncooperative/aggressive symptoms. While many individuals with an autism spectrum disorder have these symptoms, there is a lack of studies on self-esteem in this group. We studied self-esteem of youth with autism spectrum disorder and the connection to their co-occurring symptoms. To do this, different self-esteem profiles were investigated, including explicit self-esteem (how someone says their self-esteem is after reflecting on it), implicit self-esteem (how someone’s self-esteem is on a task that does not give them time to reflect on it), and the difference between both (high explicit with low implicit self-esteem or low explicit with high implicit self-esteem). Our results show that youth with autism spectrum disorder report lower self-esteem than youth without autism spectrum disorder when they have reflected on it (explicit self-esteem). And parents of children with autism spectrum disorder report that their children have even lower self-esteem. Implicit self-esteem was the same for youth with and without autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, we found that within youth with autism spectrum disorder, there was a negative relationship between explicit self-esteem and depressive symptoms, and between implicit self-esteem and externalizing behavior. Taken together, youth with autism spectrum disorder are at risk for developing low self-esteem and when they do they have a higher risk of developing co-occurring problems. Therefore we stress that it is important to measure and improve the self-esteem of youth with autism spectrum disorder, so they develop less co-occurring problems and have a higher quality of life.

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Child effortful control, teacher–student relationships, and achievement in academically at-risk children: Additive and interactive effects

Early Childhood Research Quarterly ◽

10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.07.005 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 51-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 110

Author(s):

Jeffrey Liew ◽

Qi Chen ◽

Jan N. Hughes

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Effortful Control ◽

Interactive Effects ◽

Student Relationships ◽

Teacher Student Relationships ◽

Teacher Student ◽

At Risk Children ◽

Child Effortful Control ◽

Academically At Risk

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Effects of early maternal distress and parenting on the development of children's self-regulation and externalizing behavior

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579412001162 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 437-453 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

Daniel Ewon Choe ◽

Sheryl L. Olson ◽

Arnold J. Sameroff

Keyword(s):

Adverse Effects ◽

Externalizing Behavior ◽

Externalizing Problems ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Effortful Control ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Equation Model ◽

Maternal Distress ◽

Maternal Warmth ◽

Inductive Discipline

AbstractEmotional distress experienced by mothers increases young children's risk of externalizing problems through suboptimal parenting and child self-regulation. An integrative structural equation model tested hypotheses that mothers’ parenting (i.e., low levels of inductive discipline and maternal warmth) would mediate adverse effects of early maternal distress on child effortful control, which in turn would mediate effects of maternal parenting on child externalizing behavior. This longitudinal study spanning ages 3, 6, and 10 included 241 children, mothers, and a subset of teachers. The hypothesized model was partially supported. Elevated maternal distress was associated with less inductive discipline and maternal warmth, which in turn were associated with less effortful control at age 3 but not at age 6. Inductive discipline and maternal warmth mediated adverse effects of maternal distress on children's effortful control. Less effortful control at ages 3 and 6 predicted smaller relative decreases in externalizing behavior at 6 and 10, respectively. Effortful control mediated effects of inductive discipline, but not maternal warmth, on externalizing behavior. Findings suggest elevated maternal distress increases children's risk of externalizing problems by compromising early parenting and child self-regulation.

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