The impact of friends' deviant behavior on early onset of delinquency: Longitudinal data from 6 to 13 years of age

Perceptions of mental health services among the children who are in conflict with the law in Jammu and Kashmir

Background: Due to the Jammu and Kashmir conflict, many teenagers are involved in disputes with the law. The conflict made generations suffer for decades. Such children made the mobs; being involved in life-threatening situations and the risk they confront develop psychiatric disorders. As a result of the various tense conditions when applied in multiple anti-social activities, aberrant children sent to correctional homes have to encounter numerous psychological disorders. Aim: The motive of the study is to explore the level of awareness, availability of services, stigma and obstacles to seeking assistance. Method: Due to the open-ended interview questions and a small sample size of 15 respondents, this study employed a qualitative methodology - a thematic analysis was done. Results: The findings revealed that, although the stigma is not publicly acknowledged, children who break the law and seek mental health services (MHS) are stigmatised. It was also shown that minor offenders fear that when they receive services provided by the staff of the observation home (OH), there will be a violation of their privacy and fear unforeseen repercussions. Conclusion: Collaborative action must proactively raise appropriate awareness to lessen the stigma linked with mental health problems, especially regarding MHS among these teenagers.

Exploring Whether Talking With Parents, Siblings, and Friends Moderates the Association Between Peer Victimization and Adverse Psychosocial Outcomes

The purpose of this study is to explore whether talking with parents, siblings, and friends will moderate the association between peer victimization and adverse outcomes (internalizing problems, alcohol/tobacco use, and delinquent friend affiliation). Data were derived from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children, 2009 to 2010 cohort study in the United States (n = 12,642). Bivariate, logistic regression and ordinal least squares regression analyses were conducted. Peer victimization was found to be associated with all the adverse outcomes. Although ease of talking with parents had a lower likelihood of alcohol/tobacco use, it increased alcohol/tobacco risk when peer victimization increased. Ease of talking with friends showed a higher likelihood of alcohol/tobacco use, but the likelihood was lower when peer victimization increased. Ease of talking with parents and ease of talking with friends both lowered the likelihood of delinquent friend affiliation; however, ease of talking with parents increased the risk of delinquent friend affiliation when peer victimization increased. Moreover, ease of talking with friends decreased the risk of internalizing problems, although it increased the risk of such behaviors when peer victimization increased. Talking with siblings did not buffer the association between peer victimization and adverse outcomes. Implications for practice are also discussed.

Substance Use Outcomes from Two Formats of a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Aggressive Children: Moderating Roles of Inhibitory Control and Intervention Engagement

Although cognitive-behavioral interventions have reduced the risk of substance use, little is known about moderating factors in children with disruptive behaviors. This study examined whether aggressive preadolescents’ inhibitory control and intervention engagement moderates the effect of group versus individual delivery on their substance use. Following screening for aggression in 4th grade, 360 children were randomly assigned to receive the Coping Power intervention in either group or individual formats. The sample was primarily African American (78%) and male (65%). Assessments were made of children’s self-reported substance use from preintervention through a six-year follow-up after intervention, parent-reported inhibitory control at preintervention, and observed behavioral engagement in the group intervention. Multilevel growth modeling found lower increases in substance use slopes for children with low inhibitory control receiving individual intervention, and for children with higher inhibitory control receiving group intervention. Children with low inhibitory control but who displayed more positive behavioral engagement in the group sessions had slower increases in their substance use than did similar children without positive engagement. Aggressive children’s level of inhibitory control can lead to tailoring of group versus individual delivery of intervention. Children’s positive behavioral engagement in group sessions is a protective factor for children with low inhibitory control.

Genotype-environment correlation by intervention effects underlying middle childhood peer rejection and associations with adolescent marijuana use

Aggressive behavior in middle childhood can contribute to peer rejection, subsequently increasing risk for substance use in adolescence. However, the quality of peer relationships a child experiences can be associated with his or her genetic predisposition, a genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In addition, recent evidence indicates that psychosocial preventive interventions can buffer genetic predispositions for negative behavior. The current study examined associations between polygenic risk for aggression, aggressive behavior, and peer rejection from 8.5 to 10.5 years, and the subsequent influence of peer rejection on marijuana use in adolescence (n = 515; 256 control, 259 intervention). Associations were examined separately in control and intervention groups for children of families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the family-based preventive intervention, the Family Check-Up . Using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), polygenic risk for aggression was associated with peer rejection from approximately age 8.50 to 9.50 in the control group but no associations were present in the intervention group. Subsequent analyses showed peer rejection mediated the association between polygenic risk for aggression and adolescent marijuana use in the control group. The role of rGEs in middle childhood peer processes and implications for preventive intervention programs for adolescent substance use are discussed.

Group versus individual format of intervention for aggressive children: Moderators and predictors of outcomes through 4 years after intervention

This study originated in collaboration with Thomas Dishion because of concerns that a group format for aggressive children might dampen the effects of cognitive-behavioral intervention. Three hundred sixty aggressive preadolescent children were screened through teacher and parent ratings. Schools were randomized to receive either an individual or a group format of the child component of the same evidence-based program. The results indicate that there is variability in how group-based cognitive-behavioral intervention can affect aggressive children through a long 4-year follow-up after the end of the intervention. Aggressive children who have higher skin conductance reactivity (potentially an indicator of poorer emotion regulation) and who have a variant of the oxytocin receptor gene that may be associated with being hyperinvolved in social bonding have better outcomes in their teacher-rated externalizing behavior outcomes over time if they were seen individually rather than in groups. Analyses also indicated that higher levels of the group leaders' clinical skills predicted reduced externalizing behavior problems. Implications for group versus individual format of cognitive-behavioral interventions for aggressive children, and for intensive training for group therapists, informed by these results, are discussed.

Differential Risk Profiles for Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Abstract. This two-wave longitudinal study identified configurations of social rejection, affiliation with aggressive peers, and academic failure and examined their predictivity for reactive and proactive aggression in a sample of 1,479 children and adolescents aged between 9 and 19 years. Latent profile analysis yielded three configurations of risk factors, made up of a non-risk group, a risk group scoring high on measures of social rejection (SR), and a risk group scoring high on measures of affiliation with aggressive peers and academic failure (APAF). Latent path analysis revealed that, as predicted, only membership in the SR group at T1 predicted reactive aggression at T2 17 months later. By contrast, only membership in the APAF group at T1 predicted proactive aggression at T2.

Resurrecting the chimera: Progressions in parenting and peer processes

This report uses 6-year outcomes of the Oregon Divorce Study to examine the processes by which parenting practices affect deviant peer association during two developmental stages: early to middle childhood and late childhood to early adolescence. The participants were 238 newly divorced mothers and their 5- to 8-year-old sons who were randomly assigned to Parent Management Training-Oregon Model (PMTO®) or to a no-treatment control group. Parenting practices, child delinquent behavior, and deviant peer association were repeatedly assessed from baseline to 6 years after baseline using multiple methods and informants. PMTO had a beneficial effect on parenting practices relative to the control group. Two stage models linking changes in parenting generated by PMTO to children's growth in deviant peer association were supported. During the early to middle childhood stage, the relationship of improved parenting practices on deviant peer association was moderated by family socioeconomic status (SES); effective parenting was particularly important in mitigating deviant peer association for lower SES families whose children experience higher densities of deviant peers in schools and neighborhoods. During late childhood and early adolescence, the relationship of improved parenting to youths' growth in deviant peer association was mediated by reductions in the growth of delinquency during childhood; higher levels of early delinquency are likely to promote deviant peer association through processes of selective affiliation and reciprocal deviancy training. The results are discussed in terms of multilevel developmental progressions of diminished parenting, child involvement in deviancy producing processes in peer groups, and increased variety and severity of antisocial behavior, all exacerbated by ecological risks associated with low family SES.

A Developmental Perspective on Peer Rejection, Deviant Peer Affiliation, and Conduct Problems Among Youth

Peer rejection and deviant peer affiliation are linked consistently to the development and maintenance of conduct problems. Two proposed models may account for longitudinal relations among these peer processes and conduct problems: the (a) sequential mediation model, in which peer rejection in childhood and deviant peer affiliation in adolescence mediate the link between early externalizing behaviors and more serious adolescent conduct problems; and (b) parallel process model, in which peer rejection and deviant peer affiliation are considered independent processes that operate simultaneously to increment risk for conduct problems. In this review, we evaluate theoretical models and evidence for associations among conduct problems and (a) peer rejection and (b) deviant peer affiliation. We then consider support for the sequential mediation and parallel process models. Next, we propose an integrated model incorporating both the sequential mediation and parallel process models. Future research directions and implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.

Delinquency in Adolescent Girls: Using a Confluence Approach to Understand the Influences of Parents and Peers

Determining the interdependence of family and peer influences on the development of delinquency is critical to defining and implementing effective interventions. This study explored the longitudinal relationship among harsh punishment, positive parenting, peer delinquency, and adolescent delinquency using data from a sub-sample of the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Participants were 622 adolescent girls (42% European American, 53% African American); families living in low-income neighborhoods were oversampled. After controlling for the effects of race, living in a single parent household, and receipt of public assistance, harsh punishment and peer delinquency in early adolescence were positively related to delinquency in mid-adolescence. No significant main effects of positive parenting or interaction effects between parenting and peer delinquency were observed. Thus, the effects of harsh parenting and peer delinquency are independent and perhaps additive, rather than interdependent. Results indicate the continued importance of targeting both parenting and peer relationships to prevent delinquency in adolescent girls.

Deviancy and normative training processes in experimental groups of delinquent and nondelinquent male adolescents

The goal of this study was to identify the predictors and the moderators of group characteristics that influence deviancy and normative training processes in delinquent male adolescents. The authors experimentally tested the effects of group composition on deviant talk interaction processes among groups in which all members presented delinquent behaviors ("pure" delinquent group condition), those that included adolescents with no delinquent behaviors ("pure" normative group condition), and adolescents with both profiles ("mixed" group condition). Participants were 70 male adolescents aged 15-18 (M = 16.5; 56% Caucasian), with a random assignment to groups. Data were collected among three group sessions (T1, T2, T3), one session a week, using videotape. Two contents of interactions were also measured: antisocial and normative stories, counterbalanced across sessions. Results showed a significant group effect for antisocial talk and its reinforcement, with less antisocial talk within the mixed group condition in comparison to the pure delinquent group condition. The topic of interaction was also observed as a predictor of antisocial talk, with less normative interactions and more antisocial talk associated with antisocial topics. Finally, time moderated some relations between experimental groups and talk. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for future research on deviancy training processes.

The longitudinal relationship between peer violence and popularity and delinquency in adolescent boys: examining effects by family functioning

Mapping the relationship of peer influences and parental/family characteristics on delinquency can help expand the understanding of findings that show an interdependence between peer and family predictors. This study explored the longitudinal relationship between two characteristics of peer relationships (violence and perceived popularity) with subsequent individual delinquency and the moderating role of family characteristics (cohesion and parental monitoring) using data from the Chicago Youth Development Study. Participants were 364 inner-city residing adolescent boys (54% African American; 40% Hispanic). After controlling for the effects of age and ethnicity, peer violence is positively related to boys' delinquency. The effect of popularity depends on parental monitoring, such that the relationship between popularity and delinquency is positive when parental monitoring is low, but there is no relationship when parental monitoring is high. Furthermore, parental monitoring contributes to the relationship between peer violence and delinquency such that there is a stronger relationship when parental monitoring is low. Additionally, there is a stronger relationship between peer violence and delinquency for boys from high cohesive families. Findings point to the value of attention to multiple aspects of peer and family relationships in explaining and intervening in the risk for delinquency. Furthermore, findings indicate the importance of family-focused interventions in preventing delinquency.

Direct protective and buffering protective factors in the development of youth violence

This article discusses conceptual issues and reviews knowledge about direct and buffering protective factors in the development of youth violence. Direct protective factors predict a low probability of violence, whereas buffering protective factors predict a low probability of violence in the presence of risk (and often interact with risk factors). Individual, family, school, peer, and neighborhood factors are reviewed. Heterogeneity of variables, measurement, contexts, study design, sample, and other characteristics limit generalizations. However, there were various evidence-based candidates for having a direct protective or buffering protective effect such as above-average intelligence, low impulsivity/easy temperament, enhanced anxiety, prosocial attitudes, high heart rate, close relationship to at least one parent, intensive parental supervision, medium SES of the family, sound academic achievement, strong school bonding, a positive school/class climate, nondeviant peers, and living in a nondeprived and nonviolent neighborhood. The probability of violence decreases as the number of protective factors increases (a dose-response relationship). Implications for future research and practice concern adequate research designs to detect nonlinear relationships; conceptually and methodologically homogeneous studies; differentiated analyses with regard to age, gender, and other characteristics; and greater integration of longitudinal correlational research with (quasi-)experimental intervention studies.

Early predictors of boys' antisocial trajectories

Despite the large number of studies tracing patterns of youth antisocial behavior (AB) during adolescence, few have prospective data on the developmental precursors of AB beginning during infancy. Using a cohort of 268 low-income boys first assessed at 18 months, the current study examined predictors of early- and late-starting trajectories of AB assessed during early childhood and early adolescence. Four trajectory groups were identified, including early- and late-starting groups, a low stable group, and a high decreasing group, characterized by multiple risk factors during early childhood and early adolescence. During early childhood, parenting and maternal depression discriminated two AB trajectory groups, an early-starting and a high decreasing group, who would go on to demonstrate a high preponderance of juvenile court involvement (60% to 79%) and elevated rates of clinical depression 13 to 15 years later. The results were discussed in reference to targeting malleable family risk factors during early childhood associated with patterns of AB and mental health disorders during adolescence.

School-based strategies to prevent violence, trauma, and psychopathology: The challenges of going to scale

Children's trauma-related mental health problems are widespread, largely untreated and constitute significant barriers to academic achievement and attainment. Translational research has begun to identify school-based interventions to prevent violence, trauma and psychopathology. We describe in detail the findings to date on research evaluating one such intervention, the Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution (4Rs) Program. The 4Rs Program has led to modest positive impacts on both classrooms and children after 1 year that appear to cascade to more impacts in other domains of children's development after 2 years. This research strives not only to translate research into practice but also translate practice into research. However, considerable challenges must be met for such research to inform prevention strategies at population scale.

The role of peer relationships in the development of early school-age externalizing problems

This study investigated the role of peer rejection and best friend's externalizing behavior in the development of externalizing behavior in 740 children followed annually from kindergarten (mean age=6.2, SD=0.46) to 3rd grade. Consistently across time, children's externalizing problems predicted peer rejection. Peer rejection, in turn, added to the prediction of externalizing problems above and beyond prior levels of problem behavior. Having a best friend with externalizing problems did not add to the prediction of children's externalizing problems. All findings were similar for boys and girls. These results suggest that in early elementary school peer rejection, but not yet best friend's behavioral characteristics, has an additive effect on children's externalizing problem development.

Peer relationships and adolescents' academic and non-academic outcomes: same-sex and opposite-sex peer effects and the mediating role of school engagement

BACKGROUND

The literature has documented theoretical/conceptual models delineating the facilitating role of peer relationships in academic and non-academic outcomes. However, the mechanisms through which peer relationships link to those outcomes is an area requiring further research.

AIMS

The study examined the role of adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with same-sex and opposite-sex peers in predicting their academic performance and general self-esteem and the potentially mediating role of school engagement in linking these perceived peer relationships with academic and non-academic outcomes.

SAMPLE

The sample comprised 1,436 high-school students (670 boys, 756 girls; 711 early adolescents, 723 later adolescents).

METHOD

Self-report measures and objective achievement tests were used. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to test the hypothesized model and its invariance across gender and age groups.

RESULTS

Perceived same-sex peer relationships yielded positive direct and indirect links with academic performance and general self-esteem. Perceived opposite-sex peer relationships yielded positive direct and indirect links with general self-esteem and an indirect positive link with academic performance, but mediation via school engagement was not as strong as that of perceived same-sex peer relationships. These findings generalized across gender and age groups.

CONCLUSION

Adolescents' same-sex and opposite-sex peer relationships seem to positively impact their academic performance and general self-esteem in distinct ways. It appears that school engagement plays an important role in mediating these peer relationship effects, particularly those of same-sex peer relationships, on academic and non-academic functioning. Implications for psycho-educational theory, measurement, and practice are discussed.

Children’s Social Identification With a Friendship Group: A Moderating Effect on Intent to Conform to Norms

This study examined third- through fifth-grade children’s social identification (i.e., positive affects and emotions) with their friendship group as a process by which friendship group norms might affect children’s behaviors. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a unidimensional model of social identification. Reciprocated friendship group nomination was positively associated with social identification; fifth graders reported a higher level of social identification than third graders. Sex and perceived popularity were not related to social identification. The authors hypothesized that the effect of friendship group norms on children’s intent to conform to those norms would be greater when they strongly identify with their group. This hypothesis was supported with regard to trend and misbehavior norms but not academic norms.

The role of drunken older siblings and drunken peers in the alcohol-violence nexus

BACKGROUND

It is common knowledge that alcohol use and violence in adolescence is interrelated. However, less is known about variables which modify the link between alcohol use and violent behaviours in adolescence. The present study investigates how the interaction of intraindividual [adolescent risky single occasion drinking (RSOD)], intrafamilial (risky drinking of older siblings) and extrafamilial (risky drinking among peers) alcohol-related risk factors contributes to adolescents' violence and delinquency.

METHODS

Multiple linear regression analyses including two- and three-way interactions were conducted based on a national representative sample of 3711 8-10th graders in Switzerland (mean age 15.0, SD = 0.95) who had older siblings.

RESULTS

All three alcohol-related risk factors and the three-way interaction contributed significantly to the frequency of violence and delinquency. Adolescents who frequently engage in RSOD and have both drunken peers and drunken older siblings had the highest levels of violence and delinquency. Moreover, their association between own drinking and violence increased the steepest.

CONCLUSION

The present study confirmed the occurrence of cumulative risk processes and demonstrated that excessive alcohol consumption among older siblings and peers represents a crucial contextual factor for the link between adolescents' risky drinking and violence and delinquency. For prevention, the findings suggest that a focus on peers alone may not be effective if the familial background is not taken into consideration.

Psychosocial predictors of HIV-associated sexual behaviors and the efficacy of prevention interventions in adolescents at-risk for HIV infection: what works and what doesn't work?

The HIV epidemic among adolescents in the United States is inherently tied to individual, psychosocial, and cultural phenomena. Expanding intervention development and implementation to incorporate a broader spectrum of determinants of adolescents' sexual risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/HIV acquisition may provide an opportunity to prevent disease transmission more effectively. To address the STI/HIV prevention needs of adolescents, we highlight research assessing adolescents' sexual risk behavior and place the findings in the context of the diverse array of psychosocial factors influencing adolescents. This synthesis provides an opportunity to examine why adolescents engage in risky sexual behavior and to review the effectiveness of theory-based prevention programs. Subsequently, we offer recommendations for improving future programs aimed at reducing the incidence of STI/HIV infection among adolescents.

Parents' monitoring knowledge attenuates the link between antisocial friends and adolescent delinquent behavior

Developmental trajectories of parents' knowledge of their adolescents' whereabouts and activities were tested as moderators of transactional associations between friends' antisociality and adolescent delinquent behavior. 504 adolescents (50% female) provided annual reports (from ages 12 to 16) of their parents' knowledge and (from ages 13 to 16) their own delinquent behavior and their friends' antisociality. Parents also reported the adolescents' delinquent behavior. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify two sub-groups based on their monitoring knowledge growth trajectories. Adolescents in the sub-group characterized by decreasing levels of parents' knowledge reported more delinquent behavior and more friend antisociality in early adolescence, and reported greater increases in delinquent behavior and friend antisociality from early to middle adolescence compared to adolescents in the sub-group characterized by increasing levels of parents' knowledge. Transactional associations consistent with social influence and social selection processes also were suppressed in the increasing knowledge sub-group as compared to the decreasing knowledge sub-group.

Children's disruptiveness, peer rejection, friends' deviancy, and delinquent behaviors: a process-oriented approach

This study examined whether peer rejection and affiliation with deviant friends throughout childhood could mediate the link between early disruptiveness and two aspects of delinquent behaviors (i.e., violence and substance use) in a sample of 375 children. Furthermore, we tested whether the two putative mediators operated in a sequential manner or in a parallel manner. Participants' disruptiveness, peer rejection, and friends' deviancy were assessed throughout childhood (ages 7 to 13). Delinquency-related outcomes were assessed at ages 14 and 15 years. Results indicate that the sequential mediational model was supported when delinquency-related violence was the outcome, but not when substance use was the outcome. The discussion stresses the differential role of peer rejection and affiliation with deviant friends in regard to the two outcomes considered in this study and in regard to the time frame when they were measured.

Predictors of aggressive behaviors among rural middle school youth

This study determined multivariate sets of predictors for verbal and physical aggression among rural middle school youth. Surveys were obtained from 1,440 7th and 8th grade youth from six middle schools in five geographically dispersed states. Multivariate logistic regression identified final predictive models. Similar, but varying sets of predictors were identified across types of aggression. The most consistent set of predictors was gender, family actions against violence, peer violence, anger, academic performance, and alcohol use. These results suggest that in comparison with past studies of non-rural youth, similar factors predict aggressive behavior among urban and non-urban youth. Editors' Strategic Implications: This paper makes two contributions to our understanding of the contextual factors influencing youth violence. First, it indicates that the predictive factors for rural and non-rural youth violence are similar. Second, it confirms the role of both family and peers in influencing such violence. Those who design and implement programs and polices addressing youth violence must look beyond individual variables in order to create comprehensive strategies.

Prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents: the importance of a socio-ecological perspective--a commentary

The sexually transmitted infection (STI) epidemic among adolescents in the USA is inextricably tied to individual, psychosocial and cultural phenomena. Reconceptualizing the epidemic within an expanded socio-ecological framework may provide an opportunity to better confront its challenges. In this article, we use a socio-ecological framework to identify determinants of adolescents' sexual risk and protective behaviours as well as antecedents of their STI acquisition. The goal is to provide a synthesis of several discrete categories of research. Subsequently, we propose an integrated strategy that addresses the STI epidemic among adolescents by promoting a socio-ecological perspective in both basic research and intervention design. This approach may expand the knowledge base and facilitate the development of a broader array of intervention strategies, such as community-level interventions, policy initiatives, institutionally based programmes, and macro-level societal changes. Although there are inherent challenges associated with such an approach, the end result may have reciprocal and reinforcing effects designed to enhance the adoption and maintenance of STI-preventive practices among adolescents, and further reduce the rate of STIs.

Peer influence in children and adolescents: crossing the bridge from developmental to intervention science

Considerable evidence supports the hypothesis that peer relationships influence the growth of problem behavior in youth. Developmental research consistently documents the high levels of covariation between peer and youth deviance, even controlling for selection effects. Ironically, the most common public interventions for deviant youth involve segregation from mainstream peers and aggregation into settings with other deviant youth. Developmental research on peer influence suggests that desired positive effects of group interventions in education, mental health, juvenile justice, and community programming may be offset by deviant peer influences in these settings. Given the public health policy issues raised by these findings, there is a need to better understand the conditions under which these peer contagion effects are most pronounced with respect to intervention foci and context, the child's developmental level, and specific strategies for managing youth behavior in groups.

Challenges and opportunities of group therapy for adolescent substance abuse: a critical review

Group intervention has been the most commonly employed treatment modality for adolescents with substance use disorders (SUD). Evidence has been accumulating in support for the efficacy of diverse forms of group therapy that have been utilized with adolescents. It has been argued however, that aggregation of youths who display problem behavior into group interventions may, under some conditions, produce iatrogenic effects on all participants. This assertion known also as "deviancy training" and its presumed effect on treatment outcomes has created a barrier to progress regardless of the fact that it has not been tested or empirically supported in heterogeneous groups of adolescents treated for SUD. It is imperative to optimize group intervention while considering how to prevent, reduce and control, potentially iatrogenic effects associated with the aggregation of antisocial youths in heterogeneous groups. The main objective of this review is to address the challenges and opportunities regarding group treatment of adolescent SUD.

Developmental trajectories toward violence in middle childhood: course, demographic differences, and response to school-based intervention

The present study addressed 3 questions concerning (a) the course of developmental trajectories toward violence over middle childhood, (b) whether and how the course of these trajectories differed by demographic subgroups of children, and (c) how responsive these trajectories were to a universal, school-based preventive intervention. Four waves of data on features of children's social-emotional development known to forecast aggression/violence were collected in the fall and spring over 2 years for a highly representative sample of 1st to 6th grade children from New York City public elementary schools (N = 11,160). Using hierarchical linear modeling techniques, synthetic growth curves were estimated for the entire sample and were conditioned on child demographic characteristics (gender, family economic resources, race/ethnicity) and amount of exposure to components of the preventive intervention. Three patterns of growth--positive linear, late acceleration, and gradual deceleration--characterized the children's trajectories, and these trajectories varied meaningfully by child demographic characteristics. Most important, children whose teachers taught a high number of lessons in the conflict resolution curriculum demonstrated positive changes in their social-emotional developmental trajectories and deflections from a path toward future aggression and violence.

Early identification of individuals at risk for antisocial personality disorder

BACKGROUND

Antisocial personality disorder is usually preceded by serious and persistent conduct problems starting in early childhood, and so there is little difficulty in identifying an at-risk group.

AIMS

To address six key areas concerning the relationship between early conduct problems and antisocial personality disorder.

METHOD

Review of recent research into early identification of and intervention in child conduct problems, following up to possible adult antisocial behaviour.

RESULTS

Conduct problems are predictive of antisocial personality disorder independently of the associated adverse family and social factors. Prediction could be aided through identification of subtypes of conduct problems. There is limited evidence on which children have problems that are likely to persist and which will improve; children who desist from early conduct problems and those with onset in adolescence are also vulnerable as adults.

CONCLUSIONS

The predictive power of the childhood precursors of antisocial personality disorder provides ample justification for early intervention. Greater understanding of subgroups within the broad category of antisocial children and adults should assist with devising and targeting interventions.

Preschool understanding of emotions: contributions to classroom anger and aggression

BACKGROUND

We sought to identify patterns of social cognitive differences among preschoolers that were related to risk of stable aggressive behavior with peers. Following Lemerise and Arsenio (2000), we considered the emotional components of early social cognition, reasoning that young children's substrate of emotion knowledge serves them in decoding social encounters.

METHOD

One hundred and twenty-seven children from a longitudinal study from age 3 to 4 though to their kindergarten year were interviewed on their emotional knowledge initially using a puppet procedure and later with stories about mixed emotions and display rule. Each year their anger and antisocial responses to others' emotions were observed. Teachers also provided information on each child's anger and aggression.

RESULTS

Children's deficits in emotion knowledge assessed at age 3 and 4 predicted subsequent years' aggression. This effect was especially pronounced for boys.

CONCLUSIONS

The pattern of findings suggests that the processes implicated in Dodge's work with older children may begin earlier than previously thought, with a focus on emotions.

Compromised emotional competence: seeds of violence sown early?

The authors expected less secure preschoolers to be less emotionally competent when interacting with peers at age 3 and that these emotionally incompetent children, especially those who showed much unregulated anger, would be less socially competent in kindergarten. These directional hypotheses were examined in a sample of 91 preschoolers, and all were corroborated.

Biological, psychological and social processes in the conduct disorders

BACKGROUND

This paper reviews recent evidence on the causes and maintenance of aggressive and disruptive behaviours in childhood and adolescence. It considers the relative merits of several different ways of conceptualising such problems, in relation to the contribution of biological, psychological and social factors.

METHOD

It focuses on conduct problems appearing in young childhood, which greatly increase the likelihood of persistent antisocial behaviours in adolescence and adult life in association with wider interpersonal and social role impairments. It considers the contribution of individual factors, including impaired verbal skills, deficits in executive functions, and an imbalance between behavioural activation and inhibition systems. These are viewed in interaction with commonly associated environmental disadvantages such as hostile or intrusive parenting. The roles of attributional biases, unrealistic self-evaluations, and insecure attachment are considered in relation to affect regulation, and effective social action. The contributions of the wider social environments of peers, neighbourhood and socio-economic conditions are evaluated.

CONCLUSIONS

The paper concludes that, although considerable progress has been made over the past ten years, there is a need to further refine our conceptualisation of the behaviours to be explained, to develop a coherent theory of the causal and maintaining processes, and to carry out prospective studies with adequate numbers of high risk children.

Longitudinal family and peer group effects on violence and nonviolent delinquency

Explored the longitudinal relations between family relationships and parenting characteristics, violence and nonviolent delinquency of peers, and individual delinquency and violence using data from a sample of 246 adolescent male participants in the Chicago Youth Development Study. Family and parenting characteristics were measured when participants averaged 12 years of age, peer group offending when participants averaged 14 years of age, and individual offending when participants averaged 17 years of age. Family characteristics and parenting were represented by an ordinal variable ranging from exceptional families characterized by emotional closeness, strong beliefs about family, and good parenting skills, to struggling families characterized by a lack of emotional cohesion, deviant beliefs, and poor parenting. Peers' violence but not nonviolent delinquency predicted individual violence and nonviolent delinquency, and family types predicted peer deviance as well as individual violence and delinquency. Effects varied somewhat due to gang membership and ethnicity.

Assessing social dysfunction: the contributions of laboratory and performance-based measures

Reviewed research studies in which laboratory and performance-based measures were used with success to identify problematic social interaction patterns and social skills deficits associated with poor peer relationships. However, the clinical utility of these measures remains an empirical question. In this article, social competence is conceptualized as an organizational construct, reflecting the child's capacity to integrate behavioral, cognitive, and affective skills to adapt flexibly to diverse social contexts and demands. Correspondingly, performance-based measures of social functioning that include complex social interaction stimuli and require integrative responses appear more likely to demonstrate social validity than measures focused on isolated behaviors or cognitions. Research studies are reviewed that involve observations of children in three types of analogue social situations: play groups, friendship pairs, and social-challenge situations. In addition, studies that have utilized performance-based measures to screen and evaluate children for social skills training programs are reviewed. We conclude that performance-based measures are unlikely to be useful in determining whether a child is experiencing social dysfunction but may enhance the clinical analysis of the nature of the child's social difficulties. We identify gaps in the current knowledge regarding the clinical utility of performance-based measures of social dysfunction, along with directions for future research.

Best Friendships, Group Relationships, and Antisocial Behavior in Early Adolescence

Correlations between adolescents' own antisocial behavior and adolescents' perceptions of the antisocial behavior of their best friends and friendship groups were examined in this study. The strength of those correlations was expected to vary as a function of the qualities of the dyadic friendships and group relationships. Perceptions of peers' antisocial behavior and dyadic friendship and group relationship qualities were collected through interviews with 431, 12- through 13-year-old adolescents. Measures of adolescents' concurrent and subsequent antisocial behaviors were obtained from the adolescents and their teachers. Adolescents who perceived their friends and groups as participating in antisocial behavior had higher self-reported and teacher-reported antisocial behavior ratings. Perceptions of best friend antisocial behavior were correlated more strongly with adolescents' own concurrent, but not subsequent, antisocial behavior when high levels of help, companionship, and security characterized dyadic friendships. The results are discussed in terms of peer influence and friendship selection processes.

Protective and risk effects of peer relations and social support on antisocial behaviour in adolescents from multi-problem milieus

This article addresses the relation between antisocial behaviour and social resources in a 2-year longitudinal study of 100 high-risk adolescents in residential care. Problem behaviour was measured with the Externalizing Scale of the Youth Self Report. Social resources were recorded using semi-structured methods. Hierarchical regression analyses showed interactions suggesting that the same variables can fulfil risk as well as protective functions: clique membership and satisfaction with social support fostered behavioural continuity. In contrast, a lack of social embeddedness had a risk effect for well-adapted adolescents and a protective effect for the deviant ones. Social resources were more influential in girls. Theoretical implications and methodological problems are discussed.