Personality disorders in previously detained adolescent females : a prospective study

This longitudinal study investigated the predictive value of trauma and mental health problems for the development of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) in previously detained women. The participants were 229 detained adolescent females who were assessed for traumatic experiences and mental health problems (mean age = 15.5 years). Three to 6 years later (M = 4.5; SD = 0.6), ASPD and BPD were diagnosed with a semistructured interview. Forty percent of the women had a personality disorder (i.e., ASPD 15.8%, BPD 9.2%, or both ASPD and BPD 15.2%). Posttraumatic stress, depressive symptoms, and dissociation during detention increased the risk for BPD in adulthood. Surprisingly, neither conduct problems nor substance dependence predicted ASPD; these findings require further study because they add to the controversy surrounding ASPD in females. The high prevalence rates of personality disorders indicate the need for intervention programs that target these unwanted outcomes

Maternal characteristics predicting young girls' disruptive behavior

Little is known about the relative predictive utility of maternal characteristics and parenting skills on the development of girls' disruptive behavior. The current study used five waves of parent- and child-report data from the ongoing Pittsburgh Girls Study to examine these relationships in a sample of 1,942 girls from age 7 to 12 years. Multivariate generalized estimating equation analyses indicated that European American race, mother's prenatal nicotine use, maternal depression, maternal conduct problems prior to age 15, and low maternal warmth explained unique variance. Maladaptive parenting partly mediated the effects of maternal depression and maternal conduct problems. Both current and early maternal risk factors have an impact on young girls' disruptive behavior, providing support for the timing and focus of the prevention of girls' disruptive behavior.New methods for child psychiatric diagnosis and treatment outcome evaluatio

Cumulative effects of mothers' risk and promotive factors on daughters' disruptive behavior

Little is known about the ways in which the accumulation of maternal factors increases or reduces risk for girls' disruptive behavior during preadolescence. In the current study, maternal risk and promotive factors and the severity of girls' disruptive behavior were assessed annually among girls' ages 7-12 in an urban community sample (N = 2043). Maternal risk and promotive factors were operative at different time points in girls' development. Maternal warmth explained variance in girls' disruptive behavior, even after controlling for maternal risk factors and relevant child and neighborhood factors. In addition, findings supported the cumulative hypothesis that the number of risk factors increased the chance on girls' disruptive behavior disorder (DBD), while the number of promotive factors decreased this probability. Daughters of mothers with a history of Conduct Disorder (CD) were exposed to more risk factors and fewer promotive factors compared to daughters of mothers without prior CD. The identification of malleable maternal factors that can serve as targets for intervention has important implications for intergenerational intervention. Cumulative effects show that the focus of prevention efforts should not be on single factors, but on multiple factors associated with girls' disruptive behavior.New methods for child psychiatric diagnosis and treatment outcome evaluatio