Tina Kretschmer

Outcomes of childhood conduct problem trajectories in early adulthood: findings from the ALSPAC study

Although conduct problems in childhood are stably associated with problem outcomes, not every child who presents with conduct problems is at risk. This study extends previous studies by testing whether childhood conduct problem trajectories are predictive of a wide range of other health and behavior problems in early adulthood using a general population sample. Based on 7,218 individuals from the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children, a three-step approach was used to model childhood conduct problem development and identify differences in early adult health and behavior problems. Childhood conduct problems were assessed on six occasions between age 4 and 13 and health and behavior outcomes were measured at age 18. Individuals who displayed early-onset persistent conduct problems throughout childhood were at greater risk for almost all forms of later problems. Individuals on the adolescent-onset conduct problem path consumed more tobacco and illegal drugs and engaged more often in risky sexual behavior than individuals without childhood conduct problems. Levels of health and behavior problems for individuals on the childhood-limited path were in between those for stable low and stable high trajectories. Childhood conduct problems are pervasive and substantially affect adjustment in early adulthood both in at-risk samples as shown in previous studies, but also in a general population sample. Knowing a child’s developmental course can help to evaluate the risk for later maladjustment and be indicative of the need for early intervention.

Explaining Adolescents’ Delinquency and Substance Use: A Test of the Maturity Gap: The SNARE study

Objectives: One explanation for the increase in delinquency in adolescence is that young people are trapped in the so-called maturity gap: the discrepancy between biological and social maturation, which motivates them to engage in delinquency as a temporary means to bridge this gap by emphasizing their maturity. In the current study, we investigated to what extent the discrepancy between pubertal status (i.e., biological maturation) and autonomy in decision making (i.e., social maturation) is related to conflict with parents, which in turn predicts increasing levels of delinquency as well as substance use. Methods: Hypotheses were tested by means of path models in a longitudinal sample of adolescent boys and girls (N = 1,844; M age 13.02) from the Social Network Analyses of Risk behaviors in Early adolescence (SNARE) study using a one-year time interval. Results: Results indicate that biological maturation in interaction with social maturation predict conflict with parents, which in turn was related to higher levels of delinquency and substance use over time. No gender differences were found. Conclusions: These findings reveal that conflict with parents is an important mechanism, linking the interplay of biological and social maturation with delinquency and substance use in early adolescence for boys and girls.

Multifinality of peer victimization: maladjustment patterns and transitions from early to mid-adolescence.

Peer victimization is a common and pervasive experience in childhood and adolescence and is associated with various maladjustment symptoms, including internalizing, externalizing, and somatic problems. This variety suggests that peer victimization is multifinal where exposure to the same risk leads to different outcomes. However, very little is known about the relative likelihood of each form of maladjustment. We used a latent profile approach to capture multiple possible outcomes and examined prediction by peer victimization. We also examined the role of peer victimization with regard to stability and change in maladjustment. Maladjustment symptoms and peer victimization were assessed from the participants of the large cohort study TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey in early and mid-adolescence. Latent profile and latent transition analyses were conducted to examine associations between victimization and maladjustment profile and to test the role of victimization in maladjustment profile transitions. Four maladjustment profiles were identified for early adolescence (Low, Internalizing, Externalizing, Comorbid) and three profiles (Low, Internalizing, Externalizing) were identified for mid-adolescence. Internalizing problems were more likely in victimized adolescents than low symptom levels or externalizing problems. Victimized adolescents were at greater risk to develop internalizing problems between early and mid-adolescence than non-victimized adolescents. Peer victimization is multifinal mostly when outcomes are examined separately. If multiple outcomes are tested simultaneously, internalizing problems seem to be the most likely outcome

Young children’s sibling relationship quality: distal and proximal correlates

BACKGROUND Relationships within families are interdependent and related to distal environmental factors. Low socioeconomic status (SES) and high household chaos (distal factors) have been linked to less positive marital and parent-child relationships, but have not yet been examined with regard to young childrens sibling relationships. The present study tested direct associations between these distal factors and sibling relationship quality, as well as examining parenting as a potential mediator and/or moderator. METHOD One hundred and eighteen families with children aged 4 to 8 years were interviewed and completed questionnaires during home visits. Children provided reports about the quality of their sibling relationships via a puppet interview, and mothers and fathers reported on household chaos and their exertion of harsh discipline. Researchers rated parental warmth towards the children. Finally, parental education and household density were assessed as indicators of SES. RESULTS Using structural equation modelling (SEM), we found that lower levels of household chaos were related to better quality sibling relationships, and that this link was mediated by maternal warmth and paternal harsh discipline, as well as moderated by maternal harsh discipline. CONCLUSION Household chaos was more strongly linked to relationship quality between family members than SES, warranting further research and practical application. The study of childrens sibling relationships should take into account inter-relations between proximal and distal environmental factors to fully reveal the complexity of family life.

Pubertal development, spare time activities, and adolescent delinquency: Testing the contextual amplification hypothesis

Extensive evidence supports associations between early pubertal timing and adolescent externalizing behavior, but how and under which conditions they are linked is not fully understood. In addition, pubertal development is also characterized by variations in the relative speed at which individuals mature, but studies linking pubertal ‘tempo’ and outcomes are scarce. This study examined the mediating and moderating roles of spare time activities in associations between pubertal development and later delinquency, using data from a large (4,327 girls, 4,250 boys) longitudinal UK cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children). Self-reports of Tanner stage were available from ages 9 to 14, spare time activities at age 12 and delinquency at age 15. Pubertal development was examined using latent growth models. Spare time activities were categorized using factor analyses, yielding four types (hanging out at home, hanging out outside, consumerist behavior, and sports/games), which were examined as mediators and moderators. Earlier and faster maturation predicted delinquency in boys and girls. Spare time activities partially mediated these links such that early maturing girls more often engaged in hanging out outside, which placed them at greater risk for delinquency. In addition, compared to their later and slower maturing counterparts, boys who matured earlier and faster were less likely to engage in sports/games, a spare time activity type that is linked to lower delinquency risk. No moderation effects were found. The findings extend previous research on outcomes of early maturation and show how spare time activities act as proxies between pubertal development and delinquency.

Shared Versus Nonshared Effects: Parenting and Children's Adjustment

Including more than one child per family in research enables the identification of nonshared family effects (resulting in sibling differentiation) as well as shared family effects (resulting in sib- ling similarity). is paper describes a model used to disentangle shared from nonshared proc- esses in links between parenting and children’s behavior. e sample consisted of 172 families with two children aged four to eight years. Children and parents provided reports of parenting, and parents also reported on the children’s behavior problems. According to mothers, parenting of children within families was largely similar, however the children’s reports (via puppet inter- views) indicated substantial differential treatment. In addition, links between parenting and be- havior problems were largely nonshared—reinforcing the message from behavioral geneticists that parenting functions on a child-by-child rather than family-by-family basis. at is, rather than serving to make their children similar to one another, these findings support the idea that parent-child interactions lead to unique developmental trajectories for children.

Predictors of Parenting: Family-Wide and Child-Specific Factors

SYNOPSIS Objective. The goal of the study was to identify determinants of child perceptions of parenting. Design. By using two children per family, the current study predicted siblings’ (106 pairs) perceptions of mothering and fathering at ages 9–13 from children’s perceptions of parenting and parent ratings of child difficulty, parental emotionality, and household organization, when the children were 4–8 years old. Multi-level modeling was used to differentiate between- and within-family variation. Results. Stability in child perceptions was moderate, and this stability was due to family-wide parenting shared by siblings. Conversely, the majority of variance in the 9- to 13-year-olds’ perceptions indicated differential, rather than similar, parental treatment. Maternal anger predicted maternal hostility. In contrast, household chaos predicted paternal hostility. Conclusions. Relationships between individuals in the family are part of a larger system, and children are equally as likely as parents to reap the benefits of services or interventions directed toward enhancing maternal well-being.

Hedonic, Instrumental, and Normative Motives Differentiating Patterns for Popular, Accepted, and Rejected Adolescents

This study examined to what extent motives for behavior differentiated between popular, accepted, and rejected adolescents. Based on goal-framing theory, three types of motives were distinguished: hedonic (aimed at short-term gratification), instrumental (aimed at improvement of one’s situation), and normative (aimed at acting in accordance with what one thinks one is ought to do) motives, which were based on teachers’ assessments. These motives were related to peer-reported popularity, acceptance, and rejection in a sample of adolescent boys (n = 287) and girls (n = 303; X ¯ age = 13.51; SD = 0.54). Results showed that popular adolescents were mainly characterized by instrumental and normative motives. Accepted adolescents were high in hedonic and normative motives, but low in instrumental motivation, whereas rejected adolescents showed the exact opposite pattern. These results indicate that being successful among peers is not only a matter of behavior but also of motives underlying behaviors.

Interventions aimed at preventing and reducing overweight/obesity among children and adolescents: a meta-synthesis

The prevalence of child and adolescent obesity has been a major worldwide problem for decades. To stop the number of youth with overweight/obesity from increasing, numerous interventions focusing on improving childrens weight status have been implemented. The growing body of research on weight‐related interventions for youth has been summarized by several meta‐analyses aiming to provide an overview of the effectiveness of interventions. Yet, the number of meta‐analyses is expanding so quickly and overall results differ, making a comprehensive synopsis of the literature difficult. To tackle this problem, a meta‐synthesis was conducted to draw informed conclusions about the state of the effectiveness of interventions targeting child and adolescent overweight. The results of the quantitative synthesis of 26 meta‐analyses resulted in a standardized mean difference (SMD) of −0.12 (95%CI: −0.16, −0.08). Several moderator analyses showed that participant and intervention characteristics had little impact on the overall effect size. However, a moderator analysis distinguishing between obesity treatment and obesity prevention studies showed that obesity treatment interventions (SMD: −0.048, 95%CI: −0.60, −0.36) were significantly more effective in reducing body mass index than obesity prevention interventions (SMD: −0.08, 95%CI: −0.11, −0.06). Overall, the results of this meta‐synthesis suggest that interventions result in statistically significant effects albeit of relatively little clinical relevance.

Parent–child positivity and romantic relationships in emerging adulthood Congruence, compensation, and the role of social skills

Romantic relationship quality in adolescence and early adulthood has often been linked to earlier parent–child relationship quality but it is possible that these links are nonlinear. Moreover, the role of social skills as mediator of associations between parent–child and romantic relations has been discussed but not rigorously tested. Using data from 2,230 participants of the longitudinal TRAILS (TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey) sample, this study examined whether parent–child positivity assessed at age 11 predicted romantic involvement, commitment and satisfaction in emerging adulthood. Moreover, indirect effects via cooperation, assertion and self-control were tested. Parent–child positivity did not predict romantic involvement as such. However, in those who were romantically involved, linear and, by trend, nonlinear associations between parent–child positivity and commitment were found, suggesting higher levels of commitment in those who had reported positive parent–child relationships but also in individuals with particularly low levels of parent–child positivity. Satisfaction was linearly linked to parent–child positivity. Little support was found for the assumption that the association between parent–child positivity and romantic relationship quality in emerging adulthood are partly explained by social skills. These results show that neither congruence nor compensation alone are sufficient to explain the associations between parent–child and romantic relationship quality.