Prenatal cocaine exposure has been associated with behavior problems at school age. However, the correspondence between use of cocaine and alcohol during pregnancy is often high, making appropriate allocation of variance and control for other exposures and their interactions difficult. Additionally, gender-specific effects are not typically reported. The purpose of the current study was to determine the degree to which gender-specific effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on teacher-reported child externalizing behavior problems were evident when evaluated in relation to prenatal alcohol exposure. Subjects were singleton infants of mothers who were prospectively evaluated during pregnancy. At age seven, 499 children (214 exposed prenatally to cocaine) were evaluated in our laboratory and teacher reports were solicited. Analyses stratified by gender and prenatal alcohol exposure status, and controlled for significant pre- and postnatal confounders, revealed that among boys with prenatal alcohol exposure, those with persistent cocaine exposure throughout pregnancy had significantly higher levels of Delinquent Behavior compared to boys with no cocaine exposure. Boys with any prenatal cocaine exposure were twice as likely as unexposed boys to have clinically significant Externalizing Behavior scores. However, no association was found between prenatal cocaine exposure and scores on Externalizing Behavior and specific syndromes for boys with no prenatal alcohol exposure. Among girls with no prenatal alcohol exposure, those with persistent cocaine exposure had significantly higher levels of Externalizing Behaviors and Aggressive Behaviors compared to girls with no prenatal cocaine exposure after control for confounding, and were almost five times as likely to have clinically significant Externalizing Behavior scores. However, for girls with prenatal alcohol exposure, no association between prenatal cocaine exposure and scores on Externalizing Behavior and specific syndromes was found after control for confounding. The current findings support gender- and alcohol-moderated effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on school-age teacher-reported child behavior problems. These findings are similar to what we have reported for independent parent-reported behavioral evaluation.

Attributions of child behavior have been shown to influence discipline responses and ultimately, child developmental trajectories. Research highlights various social-psychological factors in the formation of attributions, largely characterized as stable. However, research also demonstrates the efficacy of attribution retraining (AR) programs in restructuring individuals’ explanations for various outcomes. This study examined a trauma-informed training intervention with an AR component designed to evoke balanced and contextual attributions of child behavior among child-serving professionals. Of particular interest was the malleability and stability of attributions, and their influence on discipline responses. From pre- to post-training, there was a significant decrease in hostile attributions (stable after one week), significant decrease in unsupportive intervention preference, and significant increase in attitudes related to trauma-informed care. Offered as a feasible and scalable method, continued dissemination of the training intervention may improve the quality of child-serving professionals’ attributions, prompting more adaptive discipline responses and positive child interactions.

There is an accumulating body of evidence suggesting that being raised in a non-intact family may adversely affect child outcomes across a number of developmental domains. There are nevertheless questions re: interpretation for a number of methodological reasons ranging from conceptualization of exposure to analytic approach. Given the dynamic nature of family life for some children today, changes in family structure may need to be captured in a more comprehensive manner. The scientific question is how capturing dynamics of family structure can be achieved. Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), an ongoing longitudinal population survey following cohorts of Canadian children from infancy to adulthood across a number of domains of health and well-being. The sample comprised individuals aged 11-14 in cycle five of the NLSCY. We examined different approaches to conceptualizing and modeling the effect of the family structure effect based on previous studies in this area and from the lifecourse epidemiological literature. We examined the effects of current family structure, previous family structures, trajectories of family structure, and change in family structure on externalizing and internalizing behavior in pre-adolescence. We found that the validity of each approach was largely dependent on the specific research question at hand, with each one having its own advantages and disadvantages. Main methodological findings included confounding of the current family structure effect by previous experience, collinearity among family structure main effects, and low analytic power for trajectories. Guided by a conceptual diagram of the underlying causal structure, we also considered the time-varying nature of family income and employment status of the primary household respondent using inverse probability weighting to estimate the causal parameters of a marginal structural model. In one of our most sophisticated conceptualizations of family structure effects, we found that recent change in family structure had a statistically significant effect on the odds of externalizing behavior, OR (95% CI) = 2.95 (1.73-5.02). Overall, our substantive findings were tempered by methodological caveats, which have important implications for future studies in the area and for broader issues related to data collection, study design, and analysis.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1970.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1964.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1970.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Also available in print.

No description available.

The current study addressed whether there were differences in relational aggression in 9- to 10-year-old boys and girls in Hungarian and German samples. There has been very little empirical research conducted comparing children of diverse cultures in their use of relational aggression. The current study used teachers’ reports of different aggression styles observed in their 9- to 10-year-old students (N = 269). The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence and styles of aggression used in a 9- to 10-year-old culturally diverse population, as it was hypothesized that culture would be a factor in the incidence of relational aggression as well as a difference in boys’ verses girls’ relational aggression within native Hungarian cultures. Data were collected from classroom teachers using the Children’s Social Behavior Scale – Teacher Form (Crick, 1996). Six sets of analyses were conducted, including the evaluation of teacher reports of relational aggression among all 160 Hungarian and all 109 German students, the evaluation of teacher reports of physical aggression among Hungarian and German students, the evaluation of teacher reports of prosocial behavior among Hungarian and German students, the evaluation of teacher reports of relational aggression among Hungarian boys and girls, the evaluation of teacher reports of physical aggression among Hungarian boys and girls, and the evaluation of teacher reports of prosocial behavior among Hungarian boys and girls. Results confirmed 2 out of 2 hypotheses. Teachers reported greater incidence of relational and physical aggression among German students. Teachers reported a greater incidence of prosocial behavior among Hungarian students. Hungarian teachers reported a greater incidence of physical aggression among boys and a greater incidence of prosocial behavior among girls. This research failed to find any differences in Hungarian boys’ and girls’ use of relational aggression in this sample. Overall, the current findings support that cultural differences exist in relational aggression, physical aggression, and prosocial behavior among a 9- to 10-year-olds. It also supported the position that gender differences exist in the use of physical aggression and prosocial behavior among a native Hungarian sample.

The present study investigated the direct and interactional effects of neighborhood disadvantage and harsh parenting on concurrent assessments and change in externalizing and internalizing behavior in toddlerhood. The study included 55 mothers and their children; families completed in-home assessments when children were 2 and 3 years of age. Mothers' reports were used to measure neighborhood disadvantage and children's problem behaviors. Observer ratings derived from a clean up task were used to measure harsh parenting. Four hierarchical regression equations were computed to test each study hypothesis. Results indicated marginally significant effects of harsh parenting on externalizing problems at age 2. Surprisingly, harsh parenting and exposure to neighborhood risk did not significantly predict increases in externalizing behavior problems from age 2 to 3. Harsh parenting was marginally related to children's internalizing problems under conditions of high levels of neighborhood disadvantage and predicted increases in internalizing over time. The theoretical implications of the results are discussed.