Early childhood aggression trajectories

High and stable levels of aggression and the presence of aggressive behaviour in multiple settings according to different informants are risk factors for later problems. However, these two factors have not been investigated in early childhood. The present study investigates trajectories of parent-reported child aggression from 1.5 up to 6 years of age and their association with aggressive behaviour, attention problems and rule-breaking behaviour in a different setting, as reported by the teacher. In a longitudinal population-based cohort study, parent-reported measures of aggressive behaviour were obtained using the CBCL when children were 1.5, 3, and 6 years of age ( n = 4,781). Teacher-reported problem behaviour at school was assessed at age 6.5, using the TRF questionnaire ( n = 2,756). Growth mixture modelling yielded three aggression trajectories, with high increasing (3.0%), intermediate (21.3%), and low decreasing (75.7%) aggression levels. Children in trajectories with higher and increasing levels of aggression showed more teacher-reported aggressive behaviour, attention problems and rule breaking behaviour. However, parent-reported aggression at age six predicted problem behaviour at school to the same extent as did the aggression trajectories, suggesting that the incremental value of trajectories is not always self-evident.

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Early childhood aggressive behaviour: Negative interactions with paternal antisocial behaviour and maternal postpartum depressive symptoms across two international cohorts

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.07.007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 77-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mijke P. Lambregtse-van den Berg ◽

Henning Tiemeier ◽

Frank C. Verhulst ◽

Vincent Jaddoe ◽

Elizabeth Tindall ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Postpartum Depression ◽

Aggressive Behaviour ◽

Antisocial Behaviour ◽

Childhood Aggression ◽

Negative Interaction ◽

Future Studies ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

Maternal Postpartum Depression

AbstractBackground:Early childhood aggressive behaviour is a predictor of future violence. Therefore, identifying risk factors for children’s aggressive behaviour is important in understanding underlying mechanisms. Maternal postpartum depression is a known risk factor. However, little research has focused on the influence of paternal behaviour on early childhood aggression and its interaction with maternal postpartum depression.Methods:This study was performed in two cohorts: the Fathers Project, in the United Kingdom (n = 143) and the Generation R Study, in The Netherlands (n = 549). In both cohorts, we related paternal antisocial personality (ASP) traits and maternal postpartum depressive (PPD) symptoms to childhood aggressive behaviour at age two (Fathers Project) and age three (Generation R Study). We additionally tested whether the presence of paternal ASP traits increased the association between maternal PPD–symptoms and early childhood aggression.Results:The association between paternal ASP traits and early childhood aggressive behaviour, corrected for maternal PPD-symptoms, was similar in magnitude between the cohorts (Fathers Project: standardized β = 0.12, p = 0.146; Generation R: β = 0.14, p = 0.001), although the association was not statistically significant in the Fathers Project. Strikingly, and in contrast to our expectations, there was evidence of a negative interaction between paternal ASP traits and maternal PPD-symptoms on childhood aggressive behaviour (Fathers Project: β = −0.20, p = 0.020; Generation R: β = −0.09, p = 0.043) in both studies. This meant that with higher levels of paternal ASP traits the association between maternal PPD-symptoms and childhood aggressive behaviour was less and vice versa.Conclusions:Our findings stress the importance of including both maternal and paternal psychopathology in future studies and interventions focusing on early childhood aggressive behaviour.

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Parental Self-Control and the Development of Male Aggression in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Test of Self-Control Theory

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology ◽

10.1177/0306624x16662921 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 62 (4) ◽

pp. 935-957 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ryan C. Meldrum ◽

Marjolein Verhoeven ◽

Marianne Junger ◽

Marcel A. G. van Aken ◽

Maja Deković

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Control Theory ◽

Longitudinal Data ◽

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Childhood Aggression ◽

Self Control ◽

Male Aggression ◽

Child Aggression ◽

Indirect Association

A number of studies have evaluated associations between parenting practices, adolescent self-control, and adolescent antisocial behavior. Yet, few studies have examined associations between these constructs in early childhood or examined the extent to which both maternal and paternal self-control shapes them. To address these gaps, the current study utilizes longitudinal data collected on a sample of 117 Dutch boys and their parents to investigate the across time interrelationships between parental self-control, ineffective parenting, child self-control, and child aggression. The results provide evidence of an indirect association between maternal self-control and early childhood self-control through maternal ineffective parenting, an indirect association between maternal ineffective parenting and early childhood aggression through early childhood self-control, and an indirect association between maternal self-control and early childhood aggression through both maternal ineffective parenting and early childhood self-control. In contrast, paternal self-control and paternal ineffective parenting were unrelated to child self-control and child aggression. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

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Axial growth and refractive change in white European children and young adults: predictive factors for myopia

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-72240-y ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sara McCullough ◽

Gary Adamson ◽

Karen M. M. Breslin ◽

Julie F. McClelland ◽

Lesley Doyle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Predictive Factors ◽

Population Based ◽

Growth Trajectories ◽

Latent Growth ◽

Growth Mixture ◽

Growth Mixture Modelling ◽

Spherical Equivalent Refraction ◽

Refractive Change ◽

Children And Young Adults ◽

Axial Growth

Abstract This report describes development of spherical equivalent refraction (SER) and axial length (AL) in two population-based cohorts of white, European children. Predictive factors for myopic growth were explored. Participants were aged 6–7- (n = 390) and 12–13-years (n = 657) at baseline. SER and AL were assessed at baseline and 3, 6 and 9 years prospectively. Between 6 and 16 years: latent growth mixture modelling identified four SER classes (Persistent Emmetropes-PEMM, Persistent Moderate Hyperopes-PMHYP, Persistent High Hyperopes-PHHYP and Emerging Myopes-EMYO) as optimal to characterise refractive progression and two classes to characterise AL. Between 12 and 22-years: five SER classes (PHHYP, PMHYP, PEMM, Low Progressing Myopes-LPMYO and High Progressing Myopes-HPMYO) and four AL classes were identified. EMYO had significantly longer baseline AL (≥ 23.19 mm) (OR 2.5, CI 1.05–5.97) and at least one myopic parent (OR 6.28, CI 1.01–38.93). More myopic SER at 6–7 years (≤ + 0.19D) signalled risk for earlier myopia onset by 10-years in comparison to baseline SER of those who became myopic by 13 or 16 years (p ≤ 0.02). SER and AL progressed more slowly in myopes aged 12–22-years (− 0.16D, 0.15 mm) compared to 6–16-years (− 0.41D, 0.30 mm). These growth trajectories and risk criteria allow prediction of abnormal myopigenic growth and constitute an important resource for developing and testing anti-myopia interventions.

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Education and Successful Aging Trajectories: A Longitudinal Population-Based Latent Variable Modelling Analysis

Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement ◽

10.1017/s0714980817000344 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 427-434 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Theodore D. Cosco ◽

Blossom C.M. Stephan ◽

Carol Brayne ◽

Graciela Muniz ◽

Keyword(s):

Successful Aging ◽

Latent Variable ◽

Occupational Status ◽

Later Life ◽

Population Based ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Growth Mixture ◽

Growth Mixture Modelling ◽

Higher Educational Attainment ◽

Life Education

ABSTRACTAs the population ages, interest is increasing in studying aging well. However, more refined means of examining predictors of biopsychosocial conceptualizations of successful aging (SA) are required. Existing evidence of the relationship between early-life education and later-life SA is unclear. The Successful Aging Index (SAI) was mapped onto the Cognitive Function and Aging Study (CFAS), a longitudinal population-based cohort (n = 1,141). SAI scores were examined using growth mixture modelling (GMM) to identify SA trajectories. Unadjusted and adjusted (age, sex, occupational status) ordinal logistic regressions were conducted to examine the association between trajectory membership and education level. GMM identified a three-class model, capturing high, moderate, and low functioning trajectories. Adjusted ordinal logistic regression models indicated that individuals in higher SAI classes were significantly more likely to have higher educational attainment than individuals in the lower SAI classes. These results provide evidence of a life course link between education and SA.

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Growth mixture models: a case example of the longitudinal analysis of patient‐reported outcomes data captured by a clinical registry

BMC Medical Research Methodology ◽

10.1186/s12874-021-01276-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jae-Yung Kwon ◽

Richard Sawatzky ◽

Jennifer Baumbusch ◽

Sandra Lauck ◽

Pamela A. Ratner

Keyword(s):

Atrial Fibrillation ◽

Longitudinal Analysis ◽

Model Building ◽

Population Based ◽

Patient Reported Outcome ◽

Latent Classes ◽

Clinical Registry ◽

Growth Mixture ◽

Growth Mixture Modelling ◽

Patient Reported

Abstract Background An assumption in many analyses of longitudinal patient-reported outcome (PRO) data is that there is a single population following a single health trajectory. One approach that may help researchers move beyond this traditional assumption, with its inherent limitations, is growth mixture modelling (GMM), which can identify and assess multiple unobserved trajectories of patients’ health outcomes. We describe the process that was undertaken for a GMM analysis of longitudinal PRO data captured by a clinical registry for outpatients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods This expository paper describes the modelling approach and some methodological issues that require particular attention, including (a) determining the metric of time, (b) specifying the GMMs, and (c) including predictors of membership in the identified latent classes (groups or subtypes of patients with distinct trajectories). An example is provided of a longitudinal analysis of PRO data (patients’ responses to the Atrial Fibrillation Effect on QualiTy-of-Life (AFEQT) Questionnaire) collected between 2008 and 2016 for a population-based cardiac registry and deterministically linked with administrative health data. Results In determining the metric of time, multiple processes were required to ensure that “time” accounted for both the frequency and timing of the measurement occurrences in light of the variability in both the number of measures taken and the intervals between those measures. In specifying the GMM, convergence issues, a common problem that results in unreliable model estimates, required constrained parameter exploration techniques. For the identification of predictors of the latent classes, the 3-step (stepwise) approach was selected such that the addition of predictor variables did not change class membership itself. Conclusions GMM can be a valuable tool for classifying multiple unique PRO trajectories that have previously been unobserved in real-world applications; however, their use requires substantial transparency regarding the processes underlying model building as they can directly affect the results and therefore their interpretation.

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Challenging the Link Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Later Attention Problems: A Multiverse Approach

10.31234/osf.io/5hd4r ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew McBee ◽

Rebecca Brand ◽

Wallace E. Dixon

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Propensity Score Analysis ◽

Harmful Effect ◽

Attention Problems ◽

Popular Media ◽

Compelling Evidence ◽

Score Analysis ◽

Television Exposure ◽

Influential Paper

In 2004, Christakis and colleagues published an influential paper claiming that early childhood television exposure causes later attention problems (Christakis, Zimmerman, DiGiuseppe, & McCarty, 2004), which continues to be frequently promoted by the popular media. Using the same NLSY-79 dataset (n = 2,108), we conducted two multiverse analyses to examine whether the finding reported by Christakis et al. was robust to different analytic choices. We evaluated 848 models, including logistic regression as per the original paper, plus linear regression and two forms of propensity score analysis. Only 166 models (19.6%) yielded a statistically significant relationship between early TV exposure and later attention problems, with most of these employing problematic analytic choices. We conclude that these data do not provide compelling evidence of a harmful effect of TV on attention. All material necessary to reproduce our analysis is available online via Github (https://github.com/mcbeem/TVAttention) and as a Docker container (https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/mmcbee/rstudio_tvattention)

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Challenging the Link Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Later Attention Problems: A Multiverse Approach

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797620971650 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095679762097165

Author(s):

Matthew T. McBee ◽

Rebecca J. Brand ◽

Wallace E. Dixon

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Regression Models ◽

Propensity Score Analysis ◽

Harmful Effect ◽

Attention Problems ◽

Linear Regression Models ◽

Data Set ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Score Analysis ◽

Television Exposure

In 2004, Christakis and colleagues published an article in which they claimed that early childhood television exposure causes later attention problems, a claim that continues to be frequently promoted by the popular media. Using the same National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data set ( N = 2,108), we conducted two multiverse analyses to examine whether the finding reported by Christakis and colleagues was robust to different analytic choices. We evaluated 848 models, including logistic regression models, linear regression models, and two forms of propensity-score analysis. If the claim were true, we would expect most of the justifiable analyses to produce significant results in the predicted direction. However, only 166 models (19.6%) yielded a statistically significant relationship, and most of these employed questionable analytic choices. We concluded that these data do not provide compelling evidence of a harmful effect of TV exposure on attention.

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