Temperament moderates associations between exposure to stress and children's externalizing problems

The interaction between a temperament profile (four groups determined by high vs. low resistance to control [unmanageability] and unadaptability [novelty distress]) and family stress in predicting externalizing problems at school in children followed from kindergarten through eighth grade (ages 5-13) was investigated. The sample consisted of 556 families (290 boys). At Time 1 just prior to kindergarten, mothers retrospectively reported on their child's temperament during infancy. Each year, mothers reported stress and teachers reported children's externalizing problems. Temperament profile was tested as a moderator of the stress-externalizing association for various time periods. Results indicated that the combination of high resistance to control and high unadaptability strengthens the stress-externalizing association. Findings are discussed in terms of possible underlying mechanisms.

Romantic relationship patterns in young adulthood and their developmental antecedents

The delayed entry into marriage that characterizes modern society raises questions about young adults' romantic relationship trajectories and whether patterns found to characterize adolescent romantic relationships persist into young adulthood. The current study traced developmental transitions into and out of romantic relationships from age 18 through age 25 in a sample of 511 young adults. The developmental antecedents of these different romantic relationship experiences in both distal and proximal family and peer domains were also examined. Analyses included both person-oriented and variable-oriented approaches. Findings show 5 distinct clusters varying in timing, duration, and frequency of participation in romantic relationships that range from those who had only recently entered into a romantic relationship to those who had been in the same relationship from age 18 to age 25. These relationship outcome trajectory clusters were predicted by variations in competence in early relationships with family and peers. Interpersonal experiences in family and peer contexts in early childhood through adolescence thus may form a scaffold on which later competence in romantic relationships develops. Findings shed light on both normative and nonnormative developmental transitions of romantic relationships in young adulthood.

Dimensions of social capital and life adjustment in the transition to early adulthood

The predictive relations between social capital depth (high-quality relationships across contexts) and breadth (friendship network extensivity) and early-adult, life adjustment outcomes were examined using data from a prospective longitudinal study. Interviews at age 22 yielded (a) psychometrically sound indexes of relationship quality with parents, peers, and romantic partners that served as indicators of a latent construct of social capital depth, and (b) a measure of number of close friends. In follow-up interviews at age 24, participants reported on their behavioral adjustment, educational attainment, and arrests and illicit substance use. Early-adolescent assessments of behavioral adjustment and academic performance served as controls; data on what were construed as interpersonal assets (teacher-rated social skills) and opportunities (family income) were also collected at this time. Results showed that depth was associated with overall better young-adult adjustment, net of prior adjustment, and assets and opportunities. Breadth was only modestly associated with later outcomes, and when its overlap with depth was taken into account, breadth predicted higher levels of subsequent externalizing problems. These findings are consistent with the notion that social capital is multidimensional and that elements of it confer distinct benefits during an important life transition.

Parental agreement of reporting parent to child aggression using the Conflict Tactics Scales

OBJECTIVES

This study examined mothers' and fathers' reporting congruency using the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales. We asked if the mother's report of the father's parenting aggression was consistent with the father's self-report of parenting aggression and if the father's report of the mother's parenting aggression was consistent with the mother's self- report of those same behaviors. We assessed moderators of parental reporting congruency: severity of the aggression, interparental conflict, child temperament, and child gender.

METHODS

Participants were from the Child Development Project, a longitudinal study beginning when children were in kindergarten. The analyses herein included 163 children for whom 2 parents provided data about their own and their spouse or partner's behavior toward the child. Most parents (87%) were married. Mothers and fathers independently completed the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale, both with respect to their own behavior toward the child and with respect to their partner's behavior toward the child. Mothers completed the retrospective Infant Characteristics Questionnaire to assess child temperament. Mothers and fathers completed measures of interparental conflict.

RESULTS

Both fathers and mothers self-reported more frequently engaging in each behavior than the other parent reported they did. Parents were more congruent on items assessing harsher parenting behavior. Furthermore, there was more agreement between parents regarding fathers' behavior than mothers' behavior. Analyses of interparental conflict, child difficult temperament, and child gender as moderators yielded findings suggesting that mothers' and fathers' reports of their own and their spouses' harsh parenting behaviors were more concordant in couples with low levels of conflict, for children with easy temperaments, and for boys versus girls.

CONCLUSIONS

Prior studies indicate only a moderate level of agreement in couples' reports of violence between intimate partners and suggest that perpetrators tend to underreport their use of aggression. The results of this study suggest that parents may be more consistent in their reports of parent to child violence using the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales than they are when reporting intimate partner violence. The results suggest that parental reports of their spouse's parent to child aggression are reliable.

The link between harsh home environments and negative academic trajectories is exacerbated by victimization in the elementary school peer group

This article presents a prospective investigation focusing on the moderating role of peer victimization on associations between harsh home environments in the preschool years and academic trajectories during elementary school. The participants were 388 children (198 boys, 190 girls) who we recruited as part of an ongoing multisite longitudinal investigation. Preschool home environment was assessed with structured interviews and questionnaires completed by parents. Peer victimization was assessed with a peer nomination inventory that was administered when the average age of the participants was approximately 8.5 years. Grade point averages (GPAs) were obtained from reviews of school records, conducted for 7 consecutive years. Indicators of restrictive punitive discipline and exposure to violence were associated with within-subject declines in academic functioning over 7 years. However, these effects were exacerbated for those children who had also experienced victimization in the peer group during the intervening years.

Forms of Spanking and Children's Externalizing Behaviors

Research suggests that corporal punishment is related to higher levels of child externalizing behavior, but there has been controversy regarding whether infrequent, mild spanking predicts child externalizing or whether more severe and frequent forms of corporal punishment account for the link. Mothers rated the frequency with which they spanked and whether they spanked with a hand or object when their child was 6, 7, and 8 years old. Mothers and teachers rated children's externalizing behaviors at each age. Analyses of covariance revealed higher levels of mother-reported externalizing behavior for children who experienced harsh spanking. Structural equation models for children who experienced no spanking or mild spanking only revealed that spanking was related to concurrent and prior, but not subsequent, externalizing. Mild spanking in one year was a risk factor for harsh spanking in the next year. Findings are discussed in the context of efforts to promote children's rights to protection.

Interaction between serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and stressful life events in adolescents' trajectories of anxious/depressed symptoms

Caspi et al. (2003) found an interaction between the serotonin transporter polymorphism gene (5-HTTLPR) and stressful life events on depression. Subsequent attempts to replicate have been inconsistent. The present research included long allele variants modified by SNP rs25531 and tested the interaction on adolescents' trajectories of anxious/depressed symptoms, with consideration of possible age effects. Adolescents (N = 574), of whom 436 were genotyped, were followed from ages 12 to 17. Analyses demonstrated a G × E interaction in predicting the development of anxious/depressed symptoms. Specifically, adolescents with lower serotonin transcriptional efficiency (TE) genotypes whose mothers reported more stressful events were reported to show more anxious/depressed symptoms and greater increases in the development of symptoms of anxiety and depression than were higher TE adolescents, particularly at ages 16 and 17. Interactions did not differ by gender. Findings demonstrate that stress may affect adolescents' likelihood of experiencing anxious/depressed symptoms when they have a low serotonin TE (A/G-modified 5-HTTLPR) genotype and suggest that the vulnerability may be stronger in late than early adolescence.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Temperament in the First Year of Life: The Puerto Rico Infant Twin Study (PRINTS)

Three dimensions of temperament — difficult temperament, unadaptablility and unsociability — were assessed in the first year of life by maternal interview in twins born in Puerto Rico during 2001 and 2002. Eight hundred and sixty-five eligible mothers (80%) were traced and interviewed. Model- fitting results showed that additive genetic factors and the individual specific environment contributed to variation in all three dimensions. In addition, the pattern of variances and correlations suggested that sibling contrast effects influence ratings of difficult temperament. Moderate effects of the shared environment contributed to ratings of adaptability and sociability. There was a significant genetic correlation between difficult temperament and unadaptability. Genetic and environmental effects do not differ significantly between boys and girls. The study is the first population-based study of Puerto Rican twins and one of few to attempt the assessment of behavior in the first year. Preliminary results for difficult temperament and sociability were consistent with those in other populations and ages. In contrast, a significant effect of the shared environment on the temperamental trait of unadaptability has not been reported previously.

Parental Reasoning, Denying Privileges, Yelling, and Spanking: Ethnic Differences and Associations with Child Externalizing Behavior

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to examine whether African American and European American mothers differ in their discipline use when reasoning, denying privileges, yelling, and spanking are considered simultaneously and whether there are ethnic group differences in how these four forms of discipline are associated with child externalizing behavior.

DESIGN

Structural equation models were used to examine relations between children's externalizing behavior in kindergarten (age 5), mothers' discipline in grades 1-3 (ages 6-8), and children's externalizing behavior in grade 4 (age 9) in a sample of 585 mothers and children.

RESULTS

African American and European American mothers showed the same rank order frequency of reported use of each of the four forms of discipline, most frequently using reasoning, followed by yelling, denying privileges, and least frequently spanking. However, European American mothers more frequently reported using three of the four forms of discipline than did African American mothers, with no ethnic differences in the frequency with which mothers reported spanked. For European American children, higher levels of teacher-reported child externalizing in kindergarten predicted mothers' more frequent report of denying privileges, yelling, and spanking in grades 1-3; only spanking was associated with more child externalizing behaviors in grade 4. For African American children, teacher-reported child externalizing in kindergarten was unrelated to mothers' report of discipline in grades 1-3; considering predictions from discipline to grade 4 child externalizing, only denying privileges was predictive.

CONCLUSIONS

European American and African American families differ in links between children's teacher-reported externalizing behaviors and subsequent mother-reported discipline as well as links between mother-reported discipline and children's subsequent teacher-reported externalizing.

Dimensions of social capital and life adjustment in the transition to early adulthood

The predictive relations between social capital depth (high-quality relationships across contexts) and breadth (friendship network extensivity) and early-adult, life adjustment outcomes were examined using data from a prospective longitudinal study. Interviews at age 22 yielded (a) psychometrically sound indexes of relationship quality with parents, peers, and romantic partners that served as indicators of a latent construct of social capital depth, and (b) a measure of number of close friends. In follow-up interviews at age 24, participants reported on their behavioral adjustment, educational attainment, and arrests and illicit substance use. Early-adolescent assessments of behavioral adjustment and academic performance served as controls; data on what were construed as interpersonal assets (teacher-rated social skills) and opportunities (family income) were also collected at this time. Results showed that depth was associated with overall better young-adult adjustment, net of prior adjustment, and assets and opportunities. Breadth was only modestly associated with later outcomes, and when its overlap with depth was taken into account, breadth predicted higher levels of subsequent externalizing problems. These findings are consistent with the notion that social capital is multidimensional and that elements of it confer distinct benefits during an important life transition.

Differential susceptibility to adolescent externalizing trajectories: examining the interplay between CHRM2 and peer group antisocial behavior

The present study characterized prototypical patterns of development in self-reported externalizing behavior, between 12 and 22 years of age, within a community sample of 452 genotyped individuals. A Caucasian subset (n = 378) was then examined to determine whether their probabilities of displaying discrete trajectories were differentially associated with CHRM2, a gene implicated in self-regulatory processes across a range of externalizing behaviors, and if affiliating with antisocial peers moderated these associations. Findings indicate that relative to a normative "lower risk" externalizing trajectory, likelihood of membership in two "higher risk" trajectories increased with each additional copy of the minor allelic variant at CHRM2, and that this association was exacerbated among those exposed to higher levels of peer group antisocial behavior.

CHRM2, parental monitoring, and adolescent externalizing behavior: evidence for gene-environment interaction

Psychologists, with their long-standing tradition of studying mechanistic processes, can make important contributions to further characterizing the risk associated with genes identified as influencing risk for psychiatric disorders. We report one such effort with respect to CHRM2, which codes for the cholinergic muscarinic 2 receptor and was of interest originally for its association with alcohol dependence. We tested for association between CHRM2 and prospectively measured externalizing behavior in a longitudinal, community-based sample of adolescents, as well as for moderation of this association by parental monitoring. We found evidence for an interaction in which the association between the genotype and externalizing behavior was stronger in environments with lower parental monitoring. There was also suggestion of a crossover effect, in which the genotype associated with the highest levels of externalizing behavior under low parental monitoring had the lowest levels of externalizing behavior at the extreme high end of parental monitoring. The difficulties involved in distinguishing mechanisms of gene-environment interaction are discussed.

Early exposure to parents' relationship instability: implications for sexual behavior and depression in adolescence

PURPOSE

Examine the effects of the timing of parents' relationship instability on adolescent sexual and mental health.

METHODS

We assessed whether the timing of parents' relationship instability predicted adolescents' history of sexual partnerships (SP) and major depressive episodes. Multivariate logistic regression analyses controlled for potential mediators related to parenting and the family, including parent knowledge of activities, parent-child relationship quality, number of parents' post-separation relationship transitions, and number of available caregivers. Participants were assessed annually from age 5 through young adulthood as part of a multisite community sample (N = 585).

RESULTS

Participants who experienced parents' relationship instability before age 5 were more likely to report SP at age 16 (odds ratio [OR](adj) = 1.58) or an episode of major depression during adolescence (OR(adj) = 2.61). Greater parent knowledge at age 12 decreased the odds of SP at age 16, but none of the hypothesized parenting and family variables statistically mediated the association between early instability and SP or major depressive episode.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that experiencing parents' relationship instability in early childhood is associated with sexual behavior and major depression in adolescence, but these associations are not explained by the parenting and family variables included in our analyses. Limitations of the current study and implications for future research are discussed.

Developmental Precursors of Number of Sexual Partners from Age 16 to 22

This study examines family and child characteristics, parent and peer relationships, and early adolescent behavior as statistical predictors of trajectories of number of sexual partners from mid-adolescence through early adulthood using data from 527 participants in the Child Development Project. Early adolescent developmental antecedents accounted for modest variance in number of sexual partners. Latent growth models revealed that African American race, more advanced pubertal development, lower parental monitoring knowledge, association with more deviant peers, and lower GPA in early adolescence each predicted having more sexual partners at age 16. In addition, non-African American race, lower child IQ, higher parental monitoring knowledge, and lower early adolescent internalizing problems each was associated with a higher rate of growth in number of sexual partners over time at the ages following 16. Latent growth mixture modeling identified subgroups with distinct trajectories of involvement with sexual partners that were associated with family and child characteristics, parent and peer relationships, and behavior in early adolescence.

Does response evaluation and decision (RED) mediate the relation between hostile attributional style and antisocial behavior in adolescence?

The role of hostile attributional style (HAS) in antisocial development has been well-documented. We analyzed longitudinal data on 585 youths (48% female; 19% ethnic minority) to test the hypothesis that response evaluation and decision (RED) mediates the relation between HAS and antisocial behavior in adolescence. In Grades 10 and 12, adolescent participants and their parents reported participants' antisocial conduct. In Grade 11, participants were asked to imagine themselves in videotaped ambiguous-provocation scenarios. Segment 1 of each scenario presented an ambiguous provocation, after which participants answered HAS questions. In segment 2, participants were asked to imagine themselves responding aggressively to the provocateur, after which RED was assessed. Structural equation modeling indicated that RED mediates the relation between HAS and subsequent antisocial conduct, controlling for previous misconduct. Findings are consistent with research on the development of executive function processes in adolescence, and suggest that the relation between HAS and RED changes after childhood.

MAOA-uVNTR and early physical discipline interact to influence delinquent behavior

BACKGROUND

A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidizing gene monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) has been associated with behavioral sensitivity to adverse environmental conditions in multiple studies (e.g., Caspi et al. 2002; Kim-Cohen et al., 2006). The present study investigates the effects of genotype and early physical discipline on externalizing behavior. We expand on the current literature in our assessment of externalizing, incorporating information across multiple reporters and over a broad developmental time period, and in our understanding of environmental risk.

METHOD

This study uses data from the Child Development Project, an ongoing longitudinal study following a community sample of children beginning at age 5. Physical discipline before age 6 was quantified using a subset of questions from the Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus, 1979). Externalizing behavior was assessed in the male, European-American sub-sample (N = 250) by parent, teacher, and self-report using Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist, Teacher Report Form, and Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991), at 17 time points from ages 6 to 22. Regression analyses tested the influence of genotype, physical discipline, and their interaction on externalizing behavior, and its subscales, delinquency and aggression.

RESULTS

We found a significant interaction effect between genotype and physical discipline on levels of delinquent behavior. Similar trends were observed for aggression and overall externalizing behavior, although these did not reach statistical significance. Main effects of physical discipline held for all outcome variables, and no main effects held for genotype.

CONCLUSION

The adverse consequences of physical discipline on forms of externalizing behavior are exacerbated by an underlying biological risk conferred by MAOA genotype.

Does physical abuse in early childhood predict substance use in adolescence and early adulthood?

Prospective longitudinal data from 585 families were used to examine parents' reports of child physical abuse in the first 5 years of life as a predictor of substance use at ages 12, 16, and 24. Path analyses revealed that physical abuse in the first 5 years of life predicted subsequent substance use for females but not males. We found a direct effect of early physical abuse on girls'substance use at age 12 and indirect effects on substance use at age 16 and age 24 through substance use at age 12. For boys, age 12 substance use predicted age 16 substance use, and age 16 substance use predicted age 24 substance use, but physical abuse in the first 5 years of life was unrelated to subsequent substance use. These findings suggest that for females, a mechanism of influence of early physical abuse on substance use into early adulthood appears to be through precocious initiation of substance use in early adolescence.

The Interactive Effects of Marital Conflict and Divorce on Parent-Adult Children's Relationships

This study examines main effect and interactive models of the relations between marital conflict, divorce, and parent-adult child relationships, and gender differences in these relations. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of a community sample (N = 585). Parental marital conflict and divorce were measured from age 5 through age 17. Mother-child and father-child relationship quality at age 22 was assessed in terms of Closeness-Support and Conflict-Control. Results indicate that both marital conflict and divorce were associated with poorer quality of parent-adult child relationships. Divorce moderated the link between marital conflict and subsequent negativity in mother-child relationships, with the estimated effects being stronger in continuously married families than in divorced families, especially for women.

A dynamic cascade model of the development of substance-use onset

Although the onset of illicit substance use during adolescence can hit parents abruptly like a raging flood, its origins likely start as a trickle in early childhood. Understanding antecedent factors and how they grow into a stream that leads to adolescent drug use is important for theories of social development as well as policy formulations to prevent onset. Based on a review of the extant literature, we posited a dynamic cascade model of the development of adolescent substance-use onset, specifying that (1) temporally distinct domains of biological factors, social ecology, early parenting, early conduct problems, early peer relations, adolescent parenting, and adolescent peer relations would predict early substance-use onset; (2) each domain would predict the temporally next domain; (3) each domain would mediate the impact of the immediately preceding domain on substance use; and (4) each domain would increment the previous domain in predicting substance use. The model was tested with a longitudinal sample of 585 boys and girls from the Child Development Project, who were followed from prekindergarten through Grade 12. Multiple variables in each of the seven predictor domains were assessed annually through direct observations, testing, peer nominations, school records, and parent-, teacher-, and self-report. Partial least-squares analyses tested hypotheses. Of the sample, 5.2% had engaged in substance use by Grade 7, and 51.3% of the sample had engaged in substance use by Grade 12. Five major empirical findings emerged: (1) Most variables significantly predicted early substance-use onset; (2) predictor variables were significantly related to each other in a web of correlations; (3) variables in each domain were significantly predicted by variables in the temporally prior domain; (4) each domain's variables significantly mediated the impact of the variables in the temporally prior domain on substance-use outcomes; and (5) variables in each domain significantly incremented variables in the previous domain in predicting substance-use onset. A dynamic cascade represented the most parsimonious model of how substance use develops. The findings are consistent with six features of social development theories: (1) multiple modest effects; (2) primacy of early influences; (3) continuity in adaptation; (4) reciprocal transactional development; (5) nonlinear growth in problem behaviors during sensitive periods; and (6) opportunities for change with each new domain. The findings suggest points for interventions, public policies, and economics of substance-use and future inquiry.

Domain specificity in relationship history, social-information processing, and violent behavior in early adulthood

Using prospective longitudinal data, we tested 5 hypotheses: (a) that the relation between earlier developmental experiences (peer social rejection and victimization in a romantic relationship) and adult violent behavior toward peers and romantic partners is specific to relationship domain; (b) that the relation between social-information processing (SIP) biases and subsequent violence is also specific to relational domain (romantic partner vs. peer); (c) that the relation between developmental experiences and SIP biases is domain specific; (d) that domain-specific SIP mediates the impact of earlier developmental experiences on later violent behavior; and (e) that harsh parenting early in life is a domain-general predictor of SIP and later violent behavior. Harsh parenting was assessed through interviews with parents when their children were age 5 years. Classroom sociometric assessments indexing peer rejection were completed in elementary school, and self-report of victimization by romantic partners was provided at age 18 years. SIP was assessed via interview at age 22 years, and violent behavior was measured via self- and partner report at ages 23 years and 24 years. Structural equation analyses revealed specificity in the relation between developmental experiences and violence and in the prediction to and from SIP in the peer domain, but not in the romantic-relationship domain. The impact of early harsh treatment on violence toward peers was mediated by SIP biases in the peer domain. These findings provide support for domain specificity in the peer domain but for cross-domain generality in the romantic relationship domain in the development of violent behavior in early adulthood.

A dynamic cascade model of the development of substance-use onset

Although the onset of illicit substance use during adolescence can hit parents abruptly like a raging flood, its origins likely start as a trickle in early childhood. Understanding antecedent factors and how they grow into a stream that leads to adolescent drug use is important for theories of social development as well as policy formulations to prevent onset. Based on a review of the extant literature, we posited a dynamic cascade model of the development of adolescent substance-use onset, specifying that (1) temporally distinct domains of biological factors, social ecology, early parenting, early conduct problems, early peer relations, adolescent parenting, and adolescent peer relations would predict early substance-use onset; (2) each domain would predict the temporally next domain; (3) each domain would mediate the impact of the immediately preceding domain on substance use; and (4) each domain would increment the previous domain in predicting substance use. The model was tested with a longitudinal sample of 585 boys and girls from the Child Development Project, who were followed from prekindergarten through Grade 12. Multiple variables in each of the seven predictor domains were assessed annually through direct observations, testing, peer nominations, school records, and parent-, teacher-, and self-report. Partial least-squares analyses tested hypotheses. Of the sample, 5.2% had engaged in substance use by Grade 7, and 51.3% of the sample had engaged in substance use by Grade 12. Five major empirical findings emerged: (1) Most variables significantly predicted early substance-use onset; (2) predictor variables were significantly related to each other in a web of correlations; (3) variables in each domain were significantly predicted by variables in the temporally prior domain; (4) each domain's variables significantly mediated the impact of the variables in the temporally prior domain on substance-use outcomes; and (5) variables in each domain significantly incremented variables in the previous domain in predicting substance-use onset. A dynamic cascade represented the most parsimonious model of how substance use develops. The findings are consistent with six features of social development theories: (1) multiple modest effects; (2) primacy of early influences; (3) continuity in adaptation; (4) reciprocal transactional development; (5) nonlinear growth in problem behaviors during sensitive periods; and (6) opportunities for change with each new domain. The findings suggest points for interventions, public policies, and economics of substance-use and future inquiry.

Trajectories of physical discipline: early childhood antecedents and developmental outcomes

This study examined childhood antecedents and developmental outcomes associated with trajectories of mild and harsh parental physical discipline. Interview, questionnaire, and observational data were available from 499 children followed from ages 5 to 16 and from 258 children in an independent sample followed from ages 5 to 15. Analyses indicated distinct physical discipline trajectory groups that varied in frequency of physical discipline and rate of change. In both samples, family ecological disadvantage differentiated the trajectory groups; in the first sample, early child externalizing also differentiated the groups. Controlling for early childhood externalizing, the minimal/ceasing trajectory groups were associated with the lowest levels of subsequent adolescent antisocial behavior in both samples and with parent-adolescent positive relationship quality in the second sample.

Who Dislikes Whom, and For Whom Does It Matter: Predicting Aggression in Middle Childhood

This study investigated the role of mutual dislike dyads (MDDs) in the development of aggressive behavior across the middle childhood years. Of particular interest was whether involvement in MDDs predicted later aggression, and whether the magnitude of the association between MDDs and later aggression varied based on characteristics of target children and 'others' involved in their MDDs. Data were collected on a community sample of 453 children participating in an ongoing longitudinal study. Classroom peer nomination and rating-scale measures were collected in kindergarten through third grade; aggressive behavior problems were assessed via teacher ratings in the early elementary years (kindergarten and first grade) and late elementary years (fourth and fifth grade). MDD involvement in the middle elementary years (second and third grade) was associated with higher levels of aggression in the late elementary years among boys (but not girls), and these predictions held after controlling for group-level peer disliking in the middle elementary years, aggression in the early elementary years, and demographic variables. The association between MDD involvement and subsequent aggression was also qualified by the aggressiveness of others in children's MDDs: Having more MDDs predicted later aggression only among boys whose MDDs involved mostly non-aggressive others.

Role of GABRA2 in trajectories of externalizing behavior across development and evidence of moderation by parental monitoring

CONTEXT

As we identify genes involved in psychiatric disorders, the next step will be to study how the risk associated with susceptibility genes manifests across development and in conjunction with the environment. We describe analyses aimed at characterizing the pathway of risk associated with GABRA2, a gene previously associated with adult alcohol dependence, in a community sample of children followed longitudinally from childhood through young adulthood.

OBJECTIVE

To test for an association between GABRA2 and trajectories of externalizing behavior from adolescence to young adulthood and for moderation of genetic effects by parental monitoring.

DESIGN

Data were analyzed from the Child Development Project, with yearly assessments conducted since that time. A saliva sample was collected for DNA at the 2006 follow-up, with a 93% response rate in the target sample. Growth mixture modeling was conducted using Mplus to identify trajectories of externalizing behavior and to test for effects of GABRA2 sequence variants and parental monitoring.

SETTING

Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, and Bloomington, Indiana.

PARTICIPANTS

A community-based sample of families enrolled at 3 sites as children entered kindergarten in 1987 and 1988. Analyses for the white subset of the sample (n = 378) are reported here.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Parental monitoring measured at 11 years of age; Child Behavior Checklist youth reports of externalizing behavior at ages 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, and 22 years.

RESULTS

Two classes of externalizing behavior emerged: a stable high externalizing class and a moderate decreasing externalizing behavior class. The GABRA2 gene was associated with class membership, with subjects who showed persistent elevated trajectories of externalizing behavior more likely to carry the genotype previously associated with increased risk of adult alcohol dependence. A significant interaction with parental monitoring emerged; the association of GABRA2 with externalizing trajectories diminished with high levels of parental monitoring.

CONCLUSIONS

These analyses underscore the importance of studying genetic effects across development and of identifying environmental factors that moderate risk.

Developmental Trajectories and Antecedents of Distal Parental Supervision

Groups of adolescents were identified on the basis of developmental trajectories of their families' rules and their parents' knowledge of their activities. Characteristics of the adolescent, peer antisociality, and family context were tested as antecedents. In sum, 404 parent-adolescent dyads provided data for adolescents aged 10-16. Most adolescents were classified into groups characterized by low levels and reductions in family rules over time. However, low socioeconomic status and residence in unsafe neighborhoods increased membership in the group characterized by consistently high levels of family rules. Most adolescents were assigned membership in groups characterized by relatively stable moderate-to-high levels of parental knowledge of their activities. However, greater externalizing problems and peer antisociality, as well as residence in an unsafe neighborhood, increased membership in the group characterized by low and decreasing levels of knowledge. Results suggest that personal and contextual risk antecedes nonnormative decreases in parental knowledge, whereas contextual risk inhibits normative reductions in family rules.