Showing papers in "Development and Psychopathology in 1993"

Risk, resilience, and recovery: Perspectives from the Kauai Longitudinal Study

Abstract: This article summarizes the major findings of a longitudinal study that traced the developmental paths of a multiracial cohort of children who had been exposed to perinatal stress, chronic poverty, and a family environment troubled by chronic discord and parental psychopathology. Individuals are members of the Kauai Longitudinal Study, which followed all children born in 1955 on a Hawaiian island from the perinatal period to ages 1, 2, 10, 18, and 32 years. Several clusters of protective factors and processes were identified that enabled most of these high-risk individuals to become competent and caring adults. Implications of the findings for developmental theory and social action programs are discussed, and issues for future research are identified.

Resilience as process

Abstract: Resilience, the development of competence despite severe or pervasive adversity, is examined using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children and families. The study is guided by an organizationaldevelopmental perspective. Resilience is conceived not as a childhood given, but as a capacity that develops over time in the context of person-environment interactions. Factors related to resilience in our study are examined in terms of this transactional process. From our studies, we have found emotionally responsive caregiving to mediate the effects of high-risk environments and to promote positive change for children who have experienced poverty, family stress, and maltreatment. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The neuropsychology of conduct disorder.

Abstract: This article reviews evidence from neuropsychological tests that brain dysfunction is a correlate of conduct disorder. Most studies report consistent findings of differential neuropsychological deficits for antisocial samples in verbal and “executive” functions. Neuropsychological measures are related to some of the best indicators of poor outcome for children with conduct symptoms, such as early onset, stability across time, hyperactive symptoms, and aggressiveness. Neuropsychological tests statistically predict variance in antisocial behavior independently of appropriate control variables. This article argues that neuropsychological variables warrant further study as possible causal factors for conduct disorder and presents one developmental perspective on how neuropsychological problems might contribute risk for conduct disorder.

Developmental pathways in disruptive child behavior

Abstract: Developmental sequences in disruptive behavior from childhood to adolescence are traced retrospectively and prospectively in two community samples of boys. Three developmental pathways are distinguished: (a) an early authority conflict pathway, consisting in sequence of stubborn behavior, defiance, and authority avoidance; (b) a covert pathway, consisting of minor covert behaviors, property damage, and moderate to serious forms of delinquency; and (c) an overt pathway, consisting of aggression, fighting, and violence. The overlap among the three disruptive pathways is examined. Those boys who escalated in the overt pathway were more likely to escalate in the covert pathway than boys escalating in the covert pathway showing an escalation in the overt pathway. Escalation in the authority conflict pathway was not associated with escalation in either the overt or the covert pathways. Boys' rate of self-reported delinquency was highest for those in triple pathways (covert-overt-authority conflict) or in certain dual pathways (covert-overt, covert-authority conflict). However, by age 16 the highest rate of offending was displayed by those in the triple pathways. The rate of violent offenses was also highest for those in the triple pathways and for those in the overt and covert pathways. Results from the rate for court petitions largely supported these findings. Lowest rates of offending were observed for boys in the overt and authority conflict pathways. Implications are discussed for clinical practice and future research.

The role of attachment in the early development of disruptive behavior problems.

Abstract: This paper presents information pertaining to attachment processes as risk factors in the development of disruptive behavior in young children. In recognition of the fact that attachment is not the only or necessarily most important risk factor in the prediction of behavior problems, attachment is considered in the context of other domains of variables, including child biologic factors, family ecology, and parental management and socialization practices. Within the attachment domain, we describe three complementary processes that may lead to disruptive behavior: the information-processing aspects of affective-cognitive structures, the function of observable attachment patterns, and the motivational consequences of attachment security. The indirect effects of maternal representations of attachment on child disruptive behavior are also considered. Examples of protypical risk factor combinations involving attachment and other domains are provided. The implications of the attachment perspective for research and clinical work with young disruptive children are discussed.

Issues of taxonomy and comorbidity in the development of conduct disorder

Abstract: A developmental approach to the classification of antisocial behavior is necessary for two reasons. First, although the continuity of antisocial behavior is strong for many individuals, the topography of antisocial behavior changes during the course of development. Second, antisocial behavior apparently develops in at least two separate pathways — child-onset versus adolescent-onset — that differ markedly regarding types of antisocial behavior displayed, persistence, and perhaps etiology. The development of antisocial behavior must also be understood within the context of co-occurring disorders and conditions. Comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder appears to be associated with greater aggression and a worse prognosis, and comorbid academic underachievement is also associated with a negative course. Emerging evidence also suggests that comorbid anxiety disorder is associated with level of aggression, but the direction of the correlation appears to differ at different ages. In all, full understanding of conduct disorder requires developmentally sensitive classification as well as consideration of comorbid conditions.

Prospects and promises in the study of resilience

Abstract: Examinations of risk and psychopathology across the life course all too often portray the developmental process as somewhat deterministic, resulting in maladaptive and adverse outcomes. Studies ranging from genetic and biological predispositions to pathology, to assaults on development associated with inadequate caregiving, graphically convey the multiplicity of risks that eventuate in psychopathology. Thus, it is especially refreshing to explore the more optimistic component of the psychopathology-risk equation, namely, resilience. What individual, familial, or societal factors stem the trajectory from risk to psychopathology, thereby resulting in adaptive outcomes even in the presence of adversity? It is the answer to this query that the contributors to this Special Issue of Development and Psychopathology have directed their energies toward elucidating. This Special Issue may well be a \"first\" in its presentation of a group of articles detailing research strategies and empirical findings that are focused on the construct of \"resilience.\" Of course, a significant and il-

Prevention of conduct disorder before and after school entry: Relating interventions to developmental findings

Abstract: In this paper, both longitudinal and treatment studies relevant to conduct disorder (CD) are reviewed, and a developmental approach to its prevention is presented. Outcome studies for the treatment of CD and antisocial behavior are first reviewed to demonstrate that, although none have been entirely successful, many interventions have powerful effects on various symptoms that comprise the disorder, highly predictive antecedents, and risk factors. Second, the development of CD and the potency and interrelationship among antecedent and mediating variables is traced through the preschool and early elementary school years. Third, an attempt is made to synthesize the developmental and treatment research findings to suggest possible integrations of interventions that are promising for future preventive trials in the preschool and elementary school periods. It is concluded that, whereas before the entry to school preventive interventions targeted entirely in the family setting may prove successful, after the transition to school multisetting interventions will be essential. Finally, three examples of new and multisetting prevention trials are briefly described.

Gender and the development of conduct disorder

Abstract: A discussion of gender and conduct disorder must first answer the basic questions of whether or not there are any differences in prevalence, symptoms, and correlates of conduct disorder by sex. Several epidemiologic studies have found no difference in the prevalence of conduct disorder in adolescence by sex. Correlates of conduct disorder in girls are similar to those in boys (including aggression and internalizing disorders), once base rates of the correlates are accounted for. A major problem in studying conduct disorder in girls is the lack of appropriate criteria; the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (3rd ed., rev.) criteria are not appropriate for girls. A case is made for sex-specific criteria for conduct disorder that take into account known differences in male and female childhood cultures and base-rate differences in aggression and criminality. Until basic issues of diagnosis and prevalence are resolved, other issues such as risk factors and developmental pathways cannot be successfully addressed.

Resilience in maltreated children: Processes leading to adaptive outcome

Abstract: Evidence for resilience, competent functioning despite severe adversity, was investigated in school-age, disadvantaged maltreated (N = 127) and nonmaltreated (N = 79) children attending a summer camp program. Multiple areas of adaptation (social adjustment, risk for school difficulty, psychopathology) were assessed from self, peer, and camp counselor perspectives and school records. A composite index of adaptive functioning was developed, and levels of competence were delineated. Personality dimensions and personal resources, including cognitive maturity, self-esteem, ego-resiliency, and ego-control, were evaluated as mechanisms promoting individual differences in successful adaptation. Maltreated children as a group evidenced lower overall competence when compared to nonmaltreated children. An equal proportion of maltreated and nonmaltreated children, however, demonstrated high levels of competence, whereas more maltreated children than nonmaltreated children evidenced low levels of competence. Ego-resiliency, ego-control, and self-esteem were each found to predict individual differences in competent functioning. Evidence for the differential role of ego-control in promoting competence for maltreated versus nonmaltreated children was found. The results are discussed in terms of mechanisms contributing to resilient outcomes in maltreated children and the implications of the study of resilience for the field of developmental psychopathology.

Warriors and worriers: Gender and psychopathology

Abstract: Antisocial behaviors in females may differ from more prototypically “male” patterns of aggression, violence, and criminality that dominate criteria for conduct problems in diagnostic systems. This raises questions of how to define and investigate conduct problems in females as well as how to identify differential childhood antecedents. A developmental psychopathology perspective is advanced as one useful approach to understanding adaptive and maladaptive social patterns in males and females that may lead to different developmental trajectories and influence the forms of psychopathology that develop. The utility of de-emphasizing serious physical aggression as one important criteria for conduct problems is questioned. Recommendations that particular forms of deviance in females be considered as markers of their antisocial patterns (e.g., somatic complaints, friendlessness, underachievement) are also called into question. Rather than adopt sex-specific criteria to assess conduct problems, it is necessary to expand and broaden the diagnostic categories to include serious externalizing problems regardless of whether they occur in males or females.

The psychobiology of undersocialized aggressive conduct disorder: A theoretical perspective

Abstract: Undersocialized aggressive conduct disorder is conceptualized within the framework for personality and motivation of Jeffrey Gray. The disorder is seen as reflecting a dominance of the reward system over the behavioral inhibition system. Evidence for this conceptualizing coming from behavioral, psychophysiological, biochemical, and pharmacological studies is reviewed. Relevant findings from these studies include perseverative responding for reward, indices of inefficient noradrenergic and serotonergic functioning, and electrodermal underresponding. Additional research to test the proposed hypothesis is suggested.

Resilience is not a unidimensional construct: Insights from a prospective study of inner-city adolescents

Abstract: The maintenance of high social competence despite stress was examined in a 6-month prospective study of 138 inner-city ninth-grade students. The purpose was to provide a replication and extension of findings derived from previous cross-sectional research involving a comparable sample of children. Specifically, goals were to examine the extent to which high-stress children with superior functioning on one or more aspects of school-based social competence could evade significant difficulties in (a) other spheres of competence at school and (b) emotional adjustment. Measurements of stress were based on uncontrollable negative life events. Competence was assessed via behavioral indices including school grades, teacher ratings, and peer ratings, and emotional distress was measured via self-reports. Results indicated that high-stress children who showed impressive behavioral competence were highly vulnerable to emotional distress over time. Furthermore, almost 85% of the high-stress children who seemed resilient based on at least one domain of social competence at Time 1 had significant difficulties in one or more domains examined when assessed at both Time 1 and Time 2. Findings are discussed in terms of conceptual and empirical issues in resilience research.

Treatment of conduct disorder: Progress and directions in psychotherapy research

Abstract: The present paper charts the course for future research on the treatment of conduct disorder. The course builds on current advances both in understanding conduct disorder and its treatment and in the clinical care provided to youth and their families. The paper highlights substantive and methodological advances in contemporary research on both treatment and developmental psychopathology more generally. In light of the current status of treatment research, several priorities are identified, which include expanding the criteria used to evaluate outcome, expanding the range of research questions asked about treatment, testing a broader range of treatments and treatment combinations, evaluating long-term treatment effects, and expanding the models to develop and to evaluate treatment. A plan is presented to guide the progression of research to identify and to develop effective interventions. The special opportunities that a developmental perspective provides for designing treatments for youth of different ages and stages of development are also discussed.

Partners, peers, and pathways: Assortative pairing and continuities in conduct disorder.

Abstract: The role of assortative pairing for conduct problems in the continuity of such problems with pervasive social maladaptation in early adulthood was examined in a general population inner-city sample and a high-risk group (young people raised in children's homes). Previous findings showing a switch out of conduct disorder for those in the high-risk group who had supportive cohabiting relationships in early adulthood were replicated in the general population sample, using a latent class analysis. Conduct-disordered individuals, however, were much less likely to attain supportive relationships. The reasons for this lay in a chain of environmental linkages through which conduct-disordered individuals paired assortatively with those who provided less support. This process involved unsatisfactory parenting environments, a lack of planful competence, and the membership of a deviant peer group. Protection afforded by a stable family life, a nondeviant peer group, and planful behavior reduced the risks of assortative pairing. The linking processes appeared to be the same for the general population and the high-risk samples, although having been in the children's homes related to an increased risk of a lack of support, even when the linking processes were taken into account.

Violent communities, family choices, and children's chances: An algorithm for improving the odds

Abstract: Data are presented concerning the early predictors of adaptational success and failure among 72 children attending their 1st years of elementary school in a violent Washington, D.C., neighborhood. Adaptational failures were defined as those children who were doing poorly or failing in school and rated by their parents as suffering clinically significant levels of behavior problems. Adaptational successes were defined as children whose performance as students was rated in the average to excellent range and whose parent-rated levels of behavior problems were within the normal range. Despite the fact that these children were being raised in violent neighborhoods, had been exposed to relatively high levels of violence in the community, and were experiencing associated distress symptoms, community violence exposure levels were not predictive of adaptational failure or success. Instead, adaptational status was systematically related to characteristics of the children's homes. More specifically, the children's chances of adaptational failure rose dramatically as a function of living in unstable and/or unsafe homes. Moreover, it was not the mere accumulation of environmental adversities that gave rise to adaptational failure in these children. Rather, it was only when such adversities contaminated or eroded the stability and/or safety levels of the children's homes that the odds of their adaptational failure increased. We argue that this erosion of the quality of the child's microsystem (i.e., family) by adversities and pressures in the exosystem (i.e., community) is not an inevitable process. Although not yet well understood, it is a process over which families have and must exercise control. The implications of these data for improving children's chances of physical, psychological, and academic survival in violent neighborhoods are considered.

The role of children's future expectations in self-system functioning and adjustment to life stress: A prospective study of urban at-risk children

Abstract: Study I examined relationships between an interview measure of children's future expectations and variables reflecting self-system functioning with 136 9–11-year-old urban children exposed to high psychosocial stress. As expected, future expectations related to affect regulation, self-representations, and school adjustment. Study II, done with a subsample of the original group, showed that early positive future expectations predicted enhanced socioemotional adjustment in school and a more internal locus of control 2½–3½ years later and acted as a protective factor in reducing the negative effects of high stress on self-rated competence. These findings: (a) are consistent with prior data showing positive expectations to be characteristic of resilient children; (b) suggest that early positive future expectations influence later adjustment; and (c) underscore the role children have in actively structuring their environments and, thus, influencing their development. The heuristic value of the construct of self for future studies of resilience is suggested, and implications for preventive interventions are considered.

Maternal intrusiveness in infancy and child maladaptation in early school years

Abstract: Using longitudinal data, a subsample of 37 high-risk children whose mothers were observed to be intrusive in their interactions with their 6-month-old infants in feeding and play situations were compared to 145 children from the same environmental risk sample. The children of mothers judged to be intrusive were doing poorly academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally in first and second grades. The findings were robust even after covarying out the effects of a maternal social/affective interaction factor, IQ, and stressful life events experienced by the family. The relation between an intrusive style of caretaking in infancy and child maladaptation in the early school years is viewed as support for a mutual regulation model of social engagement.

The double edge of protective and risk factors for delinquency: Interrelations and developmental patterns.

Abstract: Protective and risk factors were examined in three samples, each of about 500 boys. Cross-sectional analyses examined a large number of independent variables for their potential protective and risk effects on different levels of seriousness of boys' delinquency. The results showed that protective and risk effects often co-occurred in the same variables, that few variables had risk effects only, and none had protective effects oniy. Protective effects were as likely to promote nondelinquency as to suppress serious delinquency, whereas risk effects were as likely to suppress nondelinquency as to promote serious delinquency. Certain variables were mostly associated with distinctions between nondelinquency and minor delinquency, other variables were related to the distinction between minor delinquency and serious delinquency, and a third group of variables was associated with both distinctions. Developmental analyses indicated that the magnitude of protective and risk effects increased with age. Implications of the findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Mark Twain meets DSM-III-R: Conduct disorder, development, and the concept of harmful dysfunction

Abstract: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (3rd ed., rev.) (DSM-III-R) diagnosis of conduct disorder assumes that all children who engage in three or more criterion antisocial behaviors for 6 months or more suffer from a mental disorder. It resists all contextual information about a child's developmental history, capacities, strengths and circumstances, and assumes that the antisocial behavior necessarily stems from an underlying disorder. In this review, we use Mark Twain's narrative of the lives of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as a point of departure for questioning the reasonableness of this assumption, and for examining normal as well as pathological pathways to antisocial behavior. We begin by reviewing the status of earlier controversies about the mental disorder concept in the service of documenting the impressive progress of the field in conceptualizing disorder. Next, we examine Wakefield's (1992a, 1992b) recently introduced 'harmful dysfunction' concept of mental disorder and employ its criteria to evaluate the hypothesis that chronic antisocial behavior in childhood as defined by DSM-III-R is caused by an underlying mental disorder. We also examine some of the difficulties in discriminating between disorder- and nondisorder-based antisocial behavior, and consider issues that warrant attention in future theoretical and empirical work. Finally, we explore the pragmatic rather than scientific basis for DSM-III-R's mental disorder claim and argue that regardless of its status as a mental dsorder, this most troubling and harmful behavior syndrome of childhood deserves the intensive interest, concern, and resources of the scientific and public health communities.

Resilience and levels of reserve capacity in later adulthood: Perspectives from life-span theory

Abstract: The goal of this article is to explore the utility of integrating two lines of research on questions of modifiability or plasticity of human development. The first line, dealing with the notion of resilience, originated within the field of clinical developmental research. The second line, concerned with developmental reserve capacity, evolved primarily within the field of life-span developmental psychology. Resilience addresses questions of maintenance and recovery of adaptation in the face of stress. In addition, ideas about levels of reserve capacity, rooted in life-span developmental psychology, emphasize the potential for growth. A review of research in the areas of cognitive and self-related functioning provides evidence for resilience as well as developmental reserve capacity in adulthood and old age. It is argued that across the life span reserve capacity is increasingly allocated to resilience-related processes (maintenance of functioning and recovery from dysfunction) rather than growth. A model of successful aging is discussed which suggests that, by means of selective optimization with compensation, old age nevertheless continues to hold the potential for selective growth.

The role of social context in the prevention of conduct disorder

Abstract: Two major transitions – initial school entry and transition to middle school – are emphasized as the points in development most amenable to preventing conduct disorder. As a complement to Reid's analysis of the child and family foci for prevention efforts, this paper discusses the importance of considering social context factors in prevention. In the early school years, peers inadvertently reinforce aggressive and coercive behavior and, thus, contribute to the coercive cycle Patterson describes in families. Middle schools in inner-city contexts have peer social network characteristics that also support delinquent and violent behavior more directly, in contrast to the general suppositions of social control theories of delinquency. The impact of neighborhoods and the larger societal tolerance of violence reflected in the media are also discussed. Prevention strategies for addressing these contextual factors at both developmental periods are outlined in the paper.

Preschool children at social risk: Chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at school and at home

Abstract: The current study investigated the relationship between previous, recent, or chronic maternal depressive symptoms and subtypes of child behavior problems rated by teachers and mothers among 64 low-income children aged 4–6 years. Sixty-nine percent of mothers with high depressive symptom levels at the preschool assessment had also reported high symptom levels during the child's infancy. Children whose mothers reported depressive symptoms at both ages exhibited significantly elevated rates of hostile behavior problems in the classroom and at home compared to children of never-depressed mothers. Children of mothers who were previously but not currently depressed showed significantly more anxious and withdrawn behavior at school and at home, while children of recently depressed mothers were more hyperactive and demanding. Child cognitive scores and father absence were also related to behavior problems, but these variables did not mediate the independent effects of chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms on the types of child symptoms displayed.

Resilience and vulnerability in children of multiple-risk families

Abstract: Under high-risk conditions of genetic and family environmental origins, some children maintain a high level of adaptive behavior, whereas others develop serious problems. What distinguishes these children? Using measures systematically obtained in a 10-year longitudinal study, standard case studies were developed on 18 resilient children with healthy adaptation throughout development (psychiatric assessment) and on 26 troubled children with serious persistent problems. All children had family risks of affective illness in both parents and a highly chaotic and disturbed family life. Well children of well parents and well-functioning families were a comparison group. The children were preadolescent or adolescent at the time of most recent assessment. The ill and well families had similar demographic characteristics. Resilient and control children were very similar on most measures. Troubled children as a group had lower scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Revised, were more often shy, had poor academic achievement, and had a history of poor peer relationships. Resilient children elicited more positive reactions from teachers, were more likely to be the favored child in the family, and had more positive self-perceptions. Profiles of each child showed competing processes of vulnerability and coping. Children used a wide range of methods for coping with parental and family pathology. Resilience appeared variably robust or fragile depending on the combinations of risks and supportive factors present and the styles of coping with stress.

Postpartum depression and child development: An investigation of mothers and fathers as sources of risk and resilience

Abstract: We examined maternal and paternal characteristics at 1 month postpartum as risk and protective factors for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at 2–3 years of age. In a sample of 70 couples and their children, fathers' depressive symptoms at 1 month postpartum predicted children's internalizing and externalizing problems at 2–3 years of age, and the interaction of fathers' and mothers' depressive symptoms predicted subsequent internalizing problems. Mothers' postpartum symptoms did not predict either type of children's behavior problems at age 2–3. When entered in the regression equations, mothers' depressive symptoms when the children were age 2–3 years accounted for all of the effects of paternal and maternal postpartum depressive symptoms. No evidence was found for the protective effects of marital satisfaction or social support, or for low levels of depressive symptoms in a spouse. We highlight directions for future risk and resilience research related to parental postpartum depression.

Protective and resource factors in highand low-risk children: A comparison of children with unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal mothers

Abstract: This study distinguished between factors that were protective for children at high risk and those that were resources for children regardless of risk level and determined the generality of these factors across three different risk definitions: school-age children of mothers with (a) unipolar depression (n = 22), (b) bipolar disorder (n = 18), and (c) medical illness (n = 18), each compared to a low-risk control group (n = 38). Results were verified at a 1-year follow-up. Positive self-concept, academic success, social competence, and positive perceptions of the mothers were resource factors associated with lower diagnostic ratings for children in all risk groups. Maternal social competence and having a healthy father in the home were resource factors for maternal unipolar risk but, unexpectedly, were vulnerability factors for maternal bipolar risk. Children's friendships were protective for children of medically ill mothers; however, frequent contact with an adult friend was a risk factor for unipolar offspring. The latter finding suggests that such contact might be a consequence of poor parent-child relationships. Findings are discussed in terms of possible interventions for children at risk, and suggestions for additional research are offered.

Contextual risk and resiliency during late adolescence

Abstract: The factors contributing to the mental health of a sample of 18-year-olds were analyzed in a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The contribution of proximal variables such as parenting behavior, intermediate variables such as other family factors, and the more distal variables such as social class and minority status were all highly significant. Child variables were also found to make significant contributions to understanding mental health. When the sample was divided into three subsamples, white advantaged, white disadvantaged, and African American (almost entirely disadvantaged), the mental health of the African American sample was higher than that of the white disadvantaged sample. The regression coefficients fit to the whole sample underestimated the mental health of the African Americans and overestimated the health of the white disadvantaged. The parenting of the African American sample was less approving and more critical and more controlling than that of the other two samples. To investigate the correlates of resilience, pairs of subjects were contrasted who had the same mental health but differed in whether they exceeded or were less than the mental health predicted for them. None of the variables in the study differentiated significantly between the two groups.

Psychopathology and adaptive functioning among extremely low birthweight children at eight years of age

Abstract: The objective of this study was to explore the relationship among extremely low birthweight (ELBW), psychopathology, and impairments in adaptive functioning in a regional cohort of 7–8-year-old children with a birthweight of 501–1,000 g compared to a sample of full-term controls. One-hundred twenty-nine of 143 (90%) ELBW survivors and 145 controls, born between 1977 and 1981, agreed to participate in the study. The children were assessed at a mean, unadjusted age of 7.8 years. Results showed that parents of ELBW children were more likely than parents of controls to report specifically problems of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). There were few differences between the groups in terms of impairments in adaptive functioning. Further analyses showed that the relationship between ELBW and ADHD could not be explained by confounding psychosocial risk factors, nor were ELBW children from disadvantaged environments more likely to have ADHD problems than ELBW children from nondisadvantaged environments. The relationships between ELBW and ADHD problems appeared to be associated with the lower IQ of the ELBW subjects.

The future of research on the treatment of conduct disorder

Abstract: The thesis of this paper is that a reciprocal relation must develop between basic research on the developmental psychopathology of conduct disorder and applied treatment studies. Basic research can guide treatment design, and treatment outcomes can test developmental theories. The nature of conduct disorder seems to be one of multivariate components that act in self-perpetuating ways across development. These components include family, child-cognitive, peer group, and ecocommunity systems. Interventions that are directed toward just one component may be successful in producing proximal changes in the targeted domain, but they are not likely to be successful in long-term prevention of serious conduct disorder because other forces counteract these changes. The goal of treatment research needs to be long-term conduct disorder prevention. Two kinds of treatment studies are needed, one kind that is directed toward developing a technology of successful change procedures for individual processes and a second kind that uses these multiple change procedures in a comprehensive effort to prevent serious conduct disorder.

Developmental considerations in the investigation of conduct disorder

Abstract: The papers in this special issue attest to the theoretical and empirical advances that have been made in understanding the epidemiology, subtypes, etiology, neuropsychology, psychobiology, course, consequences, prevention, and treatment of conduct disorder (CD) (see also Kazdin, 1987; Loeber, 1990; Loeber & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986; Moffitt, 1990; Patterson, 1982; Robins, 1991; White, Moffitt, Earls, Robins, & Silva, 1990). A number of theoretical conceptualizations have been forwarded in an attempt to comprehend this complex form of disorder in children. Such divergence in thinking indicates that the topic of CD has evolved into an active and significant domain of inquiry. To date, however, there has been no unifying theoretical framework for bringing conceptual clarity to the diverse perspectives represented in the study of conduct disorder. Although existing work within particular disciplines and subdisciplines has provided substantial contributions to our understanding of CD, these accounts typically have not considered the broader matrix of complex and evolving biological, cognitive, socioemotional, representational, and social-cognitive capacities of the developing child. As a consequence, disparate theoretical formulations are often too narrow in focus to address the range of processes and mechanisms that will be necessary to explain adequately how and why manifestations of CD emerge, change overtime and are influenced by children's developmental levels.