Explored relations between additive and cumulative representations of contextual risk, caregiver emotionality, child adaptability, and teacher reports of problem behaviors of 6- and 7-year-olds from economically disadvantaged families. Found evidence that the relation for cumulative risk may be moderated by caregiver negative emotionality and…

This article argues that a child welfare system has a significant responsibility to detect and treat emotional and behavioral problems and disorders as a routine part of involvement with child protective services and out-of-home care. Given the very high risk of mental health needs in this population, preventing the development of these…

Empirical research shows that poor emotional competence is an early risk factor for the development of psychopathology. Numerous school-based prevention programs have been developed with the goal of decreasing behavior problems. Several of these programs include a discrete emotions component, but none of them are solely or primarily guided by…

Although a number of reviews of gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency exist, this paper fills a gap in reviewing neighborhood influences on gender differences in conduct problems and delinquency. These influences are known to be important for boys in childhood and adolescence, but cannot be assumed to be influential in the same…

The authors report findings from the first national survey of gambling among college students. They collected information from 10,765 students attending 119 scientifically selected colleges included in the 2001 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), which indicated that 42% of responding students gambled in the last school…

The current study analyzed a subset of the experimental data collected by Berk, Ladd, Graziano, and Baek (2003) to test whether different intensities of incarceration make inmates more criminal while incarcerated. There were 561 male inmates whose equivalent classification scores indicated they had the same level of risk to commit institutional…

The State of the Science conference was held in May, 2007 as part of the ongoing series of national conferences, "Building on Family Strengths," conducted by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health at Portland State University. The theme of this State-of-the Science conference was "Effective…

Background: Using longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we examined behavior problems and social and academic outcomes from ages 9 through 12 in children classified into five trajectories of physical aggression, on the basis of maternal ratings obtained from 24 months through 9 years (N = 1195). Methods:…

Applied a semiparametric mixture model to a sample of 284 low-income boys to model developmental trajectories of overt conduct problems from ages 2 to 8. Identified four trajectories: persistent problem, high-level desister, moderate-level desister, and persistent low. Initially high and low groups were differentiated in early childhood by high…

This study examined fourth- and fifth-grade girls' cognitions of their relationally aggressive peers as a function of their own relationally aggressive and sociometric status. Findings indicated that relationally aggressive girls tended to display a relatively cautious and wary social cognitive style in relationally provocative social situations.…

An evaluation was conducted of community support services in Minnesota that provide treatment options to individuals with developmental disabilities who display behaviors that put them at risk of losing their current community placement and being placed in a large state facility. Evaluation results and the outreach service model are considered.…

Using a socio-ecological perspective, examines the influences of adolescents' social networks, personal resources, and environmental risks on adolescents' behavior problems across three samples of youth (N=155). Findings show that social support can operate as a protective agent or as a risk factor, depending on other characteristics of subsystems…

Followed for 1.5 years younger siblings of parenting and nonparenting teenagers. Found that relative to other youths, sisters of parenting teens exhibited a sharp increase in drug and alcohol use and partying behavior across time and had the highest pregnancy rate at Time 2. For girls, many hours spent caring for their sisters' children related to…

Examined adjustment problems from late childhood to early adulthood among 500 Swedish girls. Found a diversified pattern of multisyndrome formation in late childhood. The syndrome structure in early adolescence identified externalizing adjustment problems and peer problems. An externalizing syndrome was stable between late childhood and early…

Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that parental distress would mediate relations between parental lifetime alcohol and physical health problems and child behavior problems. Results indicated that sons of parents with alcohol and physical health problems are at elevated risk for behavior problems, partly related to…