Differences and Similarities in Predictors of Externalizing Behavior Problems Between Boys and Girls: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the sex-specific predictive value of age of onset of delinquent behaviors, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and anger-irritability problems for externalizing behavior problems in institutionalized adolescents over the course of 1 year. A total of 118 girls and 240 boys from child welfare and juvenile justice institutions were evaluated twice: At T1, age of onset, CU traits, anger-irritability problems, nonverbal reasoning, and externalizing behavior problems were measured; at T2 (later), externalizing behavior problems were measured a second time. Results showed significant interactions between sex and anger-irritability problems, and between sex and CU traits, in the sense that the relation between these two predictors at T1 and externalizing behavior problems at T2 was stronger in girls than in boys. Results of this study point out sex differences in the validity of predictors of externalizing behavior problems

Gender Differences in the Relationship between Strain, Negative Emotions and Delinquent Behaviors in Institutionalized Juveniles

The aim of the current study was to examine the influence of strain, anger-irritability problems and depressed-anxious symptoms on delinquent behavior problems as well as the moderating effect of depressed-anxious symptoms on the relationship between anger-irritability problems and delinquent behaviors in a sample of 248 institutionalized boys and 128 girls. Results showed that both strain and anger-irritability problems were independently related to delinquent behavior problems in boys and in girls. Depressed-anxious symptoms were related to delinquent behavior problems in girls only, and they did not moderate the relationship between anger anxiety problems and delinquent behavior problems. The model explained two times more variance (42% in girls; 19% in boys) of the delinquent behavior problems in girls than in boys, thus suggesting that a higher level of negative emotions seem to play a larger part in girls' offending behavior than in boys'