Trajectories of Pure and Co-Occurring Internalizing and Externalizing Problems from Age 2 to Age 12: Findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care

According to previous research, internalizing and externalizing problems tend to be comorbid or co-occur at different ages in development (Angold, Costello, & Erkanli, 1999). The question that this dissertation addresses is how and why internalizing and externalizing problems, two disorders that represent separate forms of psychopathology, co-occur in children. This is an important question for the developmental psychopathology perspective because an appreciation of the concept of co-occurrence is essential for explaining the development and taxonomy of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and for understanding the etiology and course of these symptoms (Achenbach, 1990). Attempts to explain co-occurrence have proposed that co-occurring psychopathology might represent distinct, meaningful syndromes (Angold & Costello, 1992; O’Connor et al., 1998), and in support of this idea, evidence of the existence of pure and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems has been found (Keiley et al., 2003). However, no previous study has identified heterogeneous developmental patterns of pure or combined internalizing and externalizing problems within a dynamic framework by taking trajectories of change into account. This dissertation uses data from the NICHD study of Early Child Care to explore the co-occurrence between internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 to 12 with the use of Latent Class Growth Analysis. The sample included 1232 children (52% male). Different groups of children exhibiting low/normative, pure internalizing, pure externalizing, and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems across the 10 year period were identified. The higher risk groups deviated from the low/normative group in terms of antecedents, SES risk, medical risk, difficult temperament, and home environment. Moreover, children who exhibited pure moderate externalizing problems, and children who exhibited chronic externalizing problems, with and without co-occurring internalizing problems, engaged in more risky behaviors and were more likely to have friends who also engaged in risky behaviors. Furthermore, the pure chronic externalizing group and the groups scoring high on internalizing problems, with and without co-occurring externalizing problems, were more asocial with peers. Finally, children exhibiting chronic co-occurring externalizing and internalizing problems were more excluded by peers in comparison to the rest of the sample’s population

The Parent-Adolescent Relationship and College Adjustment over the Freshman Year

This study investigates whether the parent-adolescent relationship is related to the academic, social, and personal-emotional expectations of adjustment and actual adjustment to college during the transition to college. The mother-adolescent relationship was more consistently linked to college adjustment than the father-adolescent relationship both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and students identified their parents and especially their mother amongst the first people who they go to for support. More African Americans than students from other ethnic backgrounds and more dormitory residents than commuters identified their mother as their first supportive figure, suggesting that the students’ living arrangements and their cultural backgrounds need to be taken under consideration when studying this transitional period

Workplace Bullying and Victimization: A Mixed Method Approach

Purpose: The main scope of the survey was to examine how school bullying and victimization experiences affect workplace bullying and victimization, as also the role of the personality traits and workplace environment to this relation. It also aimed to investigate the consequences on mental health of employees who are targets of workplace victimization, as well as the reaction mechanisms of employees against bullying. Method: 302 employees from four private companies in Cyprus completed the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, Five Factor Personality Inventory Questionnaire, Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire, Post-traumatic Embitterment Disorder Self-Rating, Negative Acts Questionnaire – Revised, and a list of coping skills, in one-time phase. Results: Based on the results, school victimization experiences and neuroticism, influenced the occurrence of workplace victimization, as also workplace climate affected the above relationship. Workplace climate, workplace victimization and neuroticism, found to be related with the development of Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder. In addition, neuroticism and workplace victimization mediated by employees’ coping skills

Psychophysiological activity and reactivity in children and adolescents with conduct problems:A systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis to estimate the association between psychophysiological activity and reactivity at baseline or after a psychological task with conduct problems (CP) among children and adolescents. We systematically reviewed published studies reporting autonomic nervous system activity in youth with CP and meta-analyzed the relationship between CP and autonomic baseline as well as task-related reactivity in 66 studies (N = 10,227). Across 34 included case-control studies that were based on CP cut-off scores, we found a significant pooled effect for task related Skin-Conductance, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, and cardiac Pre-Ejection Period, but no significant group differences for Heart Rate nor for any baseline measures. Findings suggested reduced parasympathetic and sympathetic reactivity to emotional tasks, pointing to co-inhibition of the two systems. However, across 32 studies with correlational design we only found a significant negative correlation of baseline and task-related heart rate with CP. The present meta-analysis derived several conclusions that have the potential to inform biological vulnerability models and biologically driven interventions

Stability subtypes of callous–unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms and their correlates

Callous unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms tend to co-occur across development, with existing evidence pointing to individual differences in the co-development of these problems. The current study identified groups of at risk adolescents showing stable (i.e., high on both conduct disorder and callous-unemotional symptoms, high only on either callous-unemotional or conduct disorder symptoms) or increasing conduct disorder and callous-unemotional symptoms. Data were collected from a sample of 2038 community adolescents between 15 and 18 years (1070 females, Mage = 16) of age. A longitudinal design was followed in that adolescent reports were collected at two time points, one year apart. Increases in conduct disorder symptoms and callous-unemotional traits were accompanied by increases in anxiety, depressive symptoms, narcissism, proactive and reactive aggression and decreases in self-esteem. Furthermore, adolescents with high and stable conduct disorder symptoms and callous-unemotional traits were consistently at high risk for individual, behavioral and contextual problems. In contrast, youth high on callous-unemotional traits without conduct disorder symptoms remained at low-risk for anxiety, depressive symptoms, narcissism, and aggression, pointing to a potential protective function of pure callous-unemotional traits against the development of psychopathological problems