Child disobedience and noncompliance: A review [IF: 3.4]

Child disobedience and noncompliance is a recurring problem frequently brought to the attention of pediatricians and others working with children and their parents. This article reviews empirical studies concerning childhood noncompliance. Definitions of noncompliance (also called disobedience) are presented, and observational studies that have measured noncompliance in the laboratory and at home are reviewed. Studies show considerable variability in the prevalence of noncompliance, but demonstrate that it is a frequent problem for parents. Longitudinal data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study are presented to more closely examine the onset and stability of noncompliance in childhood and adolescence. Evidence suggests that extreme childhood noncompliance is relatively stable over time, peaking slightly during early adolescence and decreasing during late adolescence. Studies indicate that for some children noncompliance predicts aggression and externalizing problems. Antecedents of noncompliance including parental discipline techniques and child characteristics are reviewed. Parent training programs designed to reduce noncompliance are described, and the effectiveness of such programs is examined

Serious delinquent behavior, sensation-seeking and electrodermal arousal

Low tonic skin conductance level (SCL) has been related, inconsistently, to both delinquency and sensation-seeking. This study tests the hypothesis that there is an interaction such that high sensation seeking delinquents, in particular, have low SCLs. Participants consisted of 335 boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study classified as serious delinquents or controls based upon 10 years of prospectively collected self-report delinquency data. Participants' skin conductance was evaluated at age 16 along with several personality and neuropsychological measures. Both delinquency and sensation seeking were characterized by low SCL. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the presence of both of these factors together lead to especially low skin conductance levels. This finding is not explained by differences between the groups on measures of negative emotionality, IQ, socioeconomic status, or impulsivity

Which aspects of ADHD are associated with tobacco use in early adolescence?

Several studies have found a relationship between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use, primarily in the context of co-occuring conduct disorder (CD). However, very few have examined the associations between the individual dimensions of ADHD (hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention) and substance use, even though these dimensions reflect distinct symptom groupings, both by clinical definition (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and through empirical demonstration (Lahey et al., 1988; McBurnett et al., 1999). This longitudinal study examines the relationship between dimensions of ADHD (as described by DSM) and substance use, accounting for other psychopathology and factors potentially related to substance use. Participants were 177 clinic-referred boys (initially between ages 7 and 12) followed up over nine annual phases until all participants had reached age 15. Annual assessment included structured clinical interviews with parent and child and self-report questionnaires of substance use, as well as questionnaires related to family factors and parenting behaviors. Seventy-eight per cent of participants reported use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, or other illicit drugs during adolescence, with 51% reporting any tobacco use. The inclusion of CD rendered all bivariate relationships with the full diagnosis of ADHD nonsignificant. However, adolescent inattention, considered independently, was associated with a 2.2 times greater risk for concurrent tobacco use, even after controlling for CD. Even when other factors, selected based on their associations with tobacco use in adolescence, were included in a regression model (concurrent adolescent CD odds ratio [OR] = 6.08), duration of tobacco use by age 12 (OR = 5.11), poor parental communication in childhood (OR = 2.9), African-American ethnicity (inversely predictive; OR = 0.15), inattention (OR = 2.3) remained significantly associated with tobacco use in early adolescence. These findings highlight the importance of considering the risks for comorbid substance use separately by individual dimensions of ADHD

Childhood Predictors of Desistance and Level of Persistence in Offending in Early Onset Offenders

Childhood predictors of adolescent offending careers were studied in 310 boys from the longitudinal Pittsburgh Youth Study who started offending prior to age 12. Three main groups were distinguished: serious persisters (n = 95), moderately serious persisters (n = 117), desisters (n = 63), and an intermittent group (n = 35). Group membership was predicted using risk and promotive factors measured in childhood. Serious and moderately serious persisters could be distinguished well from desisters (29.2% and 32.3% explained variance). Distinction between the two persister groups proved somewhat more difficult (20.9% explained variance). More serious persisters than desisters showed disruptive behavior, while moderately serious persisters fell in between. Further, more moderately serious persisters were marked by social disadvantage. Family involvement, small family and positive peer relationships were promotive of desistance. Concluding, early onset offenders show considerable heterogeneity in their adolescent offending careers which seem to some extent to be predicted by different sets of risk and promotive factors