Eric F. Dubow

Adjustment of Children Born to Teenage Mothers: The Contribution of Risk and Protective Factors.

This study was undertaken to examine the contribution of risk and protective factors in the adjustment of children born to teenage mothers. Information from a national data set was obtained on a subset of 721 children aged 8-15 and their mothers. Results showed that several risk factors (e.g., poverty status, urban residence, mothers self-esteem) were modestly related to childrens academic and behavioral adjustment. Exposure to increasing numbers of risk factors was associated with greater vulnerability to adjustment problems. Several protective factors (e.g., intelligence, self-esteem, quality of the home environment) were also modestly related to children s adjustment and enhanced the prediction of adjustment above and beyond the contribution of the risk factors. For children exposed to risk, the presence of the protective factors reduced their vulnerability to academic and behavioral difficulties.

Continuity of aggression from childhood to early adulthood as a predictor of life outcomes: implications for the adolescent‐limited and life‐course‐persistent models

Using data from the Columbia County Longitudinal Study, a 40-year longitudinal study following an entire countys population of third-grade students from age 8 to 48, we examine questions about the long-term consequences of aggressive and antisocial behavior in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. We found moderate levels of continuity of aggression from age 8 to 48 both for males and for females. Contrary to what some have proposed, we found that continuity of aggressiveness is owing to not only the high-aggressive participants staying high but also owing to the low-aggressive participants staying low. Compared with life-course-persistent low aggressives, we found that life-course-persistent high aggressives had consistently poorer outcomes across domains of life success, criminal behavior, and psychosocial functioning at age 48 (e.g., arrests, traffic violations, aggression toward spouse and divorces, depression, health, occupational and educational attainment). In contrast, adolescent-limited and child-limited aggressives did not differ from life-course-persistent low aggressives on the age 48 outcomes. Finally, the outcomes for late-onset (early adulthood) aggressives were also problematic in some domains though not as problematic as those for life-course-persistent aggressives.

Methods of Religious Coping with the Gulf War: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses

Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of religious and nonreligious coping methods to psychological distress among college students in the 1990-91 Gulf War crisis. Students completed measures of religious coping, nonreligious coping, and specific (war-related) and global psychological distress two days prior to the allied ground assault of Kuwait and one week after hostilities were suspended against Iraq. Religious coping activities were significant predictors of psychological distress cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Religious avoidant coping was associated with increased distress. Surprisingly, pleading for a miracle was tied to reduced distress over time. While religious and nonreligious coping were associated with each other, the two were not functionally redundant; each set of coping methods contributed unique variance to the prediction of distress. Differences between the cross-sectional and longitudinal findings suggest that stressful experiences may serve as a religious coping mobilizer and/or that the efficacy of religious coping methods may change over time. The results point to the need for finer-grained analyses of specific religious coping mechanisms in specific life situations.

Prospective Associations Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Academic, Psychosocial, and Physical Well-being by Middle Childhood

OBJECTIVE To estimate the influence of early childhood television exposure on fourth-grade academic, psychosocial, and lifestyle characteristics. DESIGN Prospective longitudinal study. SETTING Institut de la Statistique du Québec, Québec, Canada. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1314 (of 2120) children. Main Exposure Parent-reported data on weekly hours of television exposure at 29 and 53 months of age. We conducted a series of ordinary least-squares regressions in which childrens academic, psychosocial, and lifestyle characteristics are linearly regressed on early and preschool television exposure. OUTCOME MEASURES Parent and teacher reports of academic, psychosocial, and health behaviors and body mass index measurements (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) at 10 years of age. RESULTS Adjusting for preexisting individual and family factors, every additional hour of television exposure at 29 months corresponded to 7% and 6% unit decreases in classroom engagement (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.02 to -0.004) and math achievement (95% CI, -0.03 to 0.01), respectively; 10% unit increases in victimization by classmates (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.05); 13% unit decreases in time spent doing weekend physical activity (95% CI, 0.81 to 2.25); 9% unit decreases in activities involving physical effort (95% CI, -0.04 to 0.00); higher consumption scores for soft drinks and snacks by 9% and 10% (95% CI, 0.00 to 0.04 and 95% CI, 0.00 to 0.02), respectively; and 5% unit increases in body mass index (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.05). Preschool increments in exposure also made a unique contribution to developmental risk. CONCLUSIONS The long-term risks associated with higher levels of early exposure may chart developmental pathways toward unhealthy dispositions in adolescence. A population-level understanding of such risks remains essential for promoting child development.

Childhood and adolescent predictors of early and middle adulthood alcohol use and problem drinking: the Columbia County Longitudinal Study

AIMS To examine the role of individually and contextually based factors measured during childhood and adolescence in predicting alcohol use and abuse measured during early and middle adulthood. DESIGN Initial sample of 856 individuals first interviewed at age 8 with follow-up interviews at 19 (n = 427), 30 (n = 409), and 48 (n = 523). PARTICIPANTS Individuals enrolled in 3rd-grade classes in Columbia County, NY, in 1960 (49% female; > 90% Caucasian; primarily working-class families), who were re-sampled in 1970 (51% female), 1981 (52% female) and 2000 (49% female). MEASUREMENTS Parent reports of negative family interaction and socio-economic status when the child was 8 years old; IQ test at age 8; peer nominations of aggression, popularity and behavioral inhibition at ages 8 and 19; self-report of depression and educational attainment at age 19; self-report of alcohol use and problem drinking at ages 30 and 48. FINDINGS Path models showed that the effects of childhood individual variables (e.g. aggression, popularity, behavioral inhibition) on adulthood alcohol use and abuse generally were mediated by the same behavioral variables in adolescence. Specifically, both for males and for females, lower levels of behavioral inhibition and higher levels of aggression predicted adulthood alcohol variables. Childhood contextual variables (family socio-economic status and negative family interaction) were relatively weak predictors of adulthood alcohol use and abuse. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol use and abuse in adulthood, when considered in a long-term developmental-contextual framework, appear to be consistent with a general deviance model of problem behavior whereby individually based factors from childhood and late adolescence predict long-term indices of adulthood alcohol use and abuse.

Exposure to Violence Across the Social Ecosystem and the Development of Aggression: A Test of Ecological Theory in the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict

Bronfenbrenners (1979) ecological model proposes that events in higher order social ecosystems should influence human development through their impact on events in lower order social ecosystems. This proposition was tested with respect to ecological violence and the development of childrens aggression via analyses of 3 waves of data (1 wave yearly for 3 years) from 3 age cohorts (starting ages: 8, 11, and 14) representing three populations in the Middle East: Palestinians (N = 600), Israeli Jews (N = 451), and Israeli Arabs (N = 450). Results supported a hypothesized model in which ethnopolitical violence increases community, family, and school violence and childrens aggression. Findings are discussed with respect to ecological and observational learning perspectives on the development of aggressive behavior.

Predictors of future expectations of inner-city children: A 9-month prospective study.

Assessed in the present study were the contributions of variables thought to be related to positive expectations for the future in a sample of inner-city sixth-grade through eighth-grade students. Students completed self-report measures in September and June. At each time point, higher levels of positive expectations for the future were related to lower levels of problem behaviors and peer negative influences and to higher levels of school involvement, internal resources, and social support. In prospective analyses, higher levels of Time 1 problem behaviors and peer negative influences predicted decreases over 9 months in positive expectations for the future; higher levels of family support and problem-solving efficacy predicted increases over 9 months in positive expectations for the future. These findings have implications for further prospective research as well as for designing resilience-promoting prevention programs for at-risk youth.

Initial Investigation of Jewish Early Adolescents’ Ethnic Identity, Stress, and Coping:

Ethnic identity was examined as a source of stress and as a coping resource among Jewish sixth through eighth graders (N = 75). Over 50% of the students reported having experienced various ethnic-related stressors in the past year (e.g., being restricted from activities due to the Sabbath, experiencing anti-Semitic comments). Jewish early adolescents also endorsed ethnic and religious coping strategies from three coping scale factors: Seeking God’s Direction/Support (e.g., “I ask God to forgive me for the things I did wrong”); Seeking Cultural/Social Support (e.g., “I look forward to the Sabbath”); and Spiritual Struggle (e.g., “I start to wonder whether God can really do everything”). Components of ethnic identity were related positively both to ethnic-related stressors and coping strategies, indicating that although high levels of ethnic identity might heighten Jewish adolescents’ sensitivity to ethnic-related stressors, ethnic identity might serve also as a resource for coping with those stressors.

Exposure to "low-level" aggression in school: associations with aggressive behavior, future expectations, and perceived safety.

Examined associations with witnessing and being victimized by “low-level” aggressive acts (e.g., pushing, gossip) and three indicators of psychosocial functioning in a sample of 771 elementary school students from one urban and one suburban school district. Results indicated that exposure to low-level aggression appears to relate to psychosocial functioning in ways similar to more severe forms of aggression. Students who were exposed to higher levels of both witnessing and victimization by low-level aggression reported the highest levels of engagement in aggression, the lowest levels of positive expectations for the future, and the lowest levels of perceived safety. Findings are discussed in the context of research on exposure to aggression in general, with suggestions offered for future studies. Implications of the findings for school-based intervention programs are raised.

A Social-Cognitive-Ecological Framework for Understanding the Impact of Exposure to Persistent Ethnic–Political Violence on Children’s Psychosocial Adjustment

In this article, we describe a theoretical framework for understanding how persistent and extreme exposure to ethnic–political conflict and violence interacts with cognitive, emotional, and self processes to influence children’s psychosocial adjustment. Three recent strands of theorizing guide our approach. First, we focus on how observational and social learning processes combine to influence the development of social-cognitive structures and processes that affect behavior. Second, we focus on the role of developing self and identity processes in shaping the child’s interactions with the world and the consequences of those interactions. Third, we build on the complex systems perspective on development and assume that human development can only be understood accurately by examining how the multiple contexts affecting children and the adults in their lives interact to moderate biosocial factors which predispose individuals to develop in certain directions. We review the recent empirical literature on children’s exposure to ethnic–political violence and we apply the social-cognitive-ecological framework to the empirical findings in this literature. Finally, we propose future directions for research and clinical implications derived from this framework.