The current study was initiated to increase understanding of developmental cascades in childhood in a sample of at-risk boys (N = 291; 52% White). Mothers, teachers, and boys reported on boys’ externalizing problems, internalizing difficulties, and academic competence. Consistent with hypotheses regarding school-related transitions, high levels of externalizing problems were associated with both low levels of academic competence and high levels of internalizing problems during the early school-age period, and with elevations in internalizing problems during the transition to adolescence. Low levels of academic competence were associated with high levels of internalizing problems in middle childhood, and with high levels of externalizing problems during the transition from elementary school to middle school. Shared risk factors played a minimal role in these developmental cascades. Results suggest that there are cascading effects of externalizing problems and academic competence in childhood and early adolescence, and that some cascading effects are more likely to occur during periods of school-related transitions. Implications of developmental cascade effects for research and intervention are discussed.

The purpose of the study was to advance our understanding of the developmental precursors of Moral Disengagement (MD) and the role of MD in the development of antisocial behavior from early risk among an ethnically diverse sample of 187 low-income boys followed prospectively from ages 1.5 to 17. Results indicated associations between early rejecting parenting, neighborhood impoverishment, and child empathy and later MD. The link between some of these early constructs and later antisocial behavior was mediated by MD. Finally, in an exploratory path model both MD and biases in social information processing were found to mediate separate paths from early risk factors to later antisocial behavior. Results were partially consistent with the notion that adolescent MD was predicted by a combination of early family, neighborhood, and child risk factors, and that MD may be a mechanism underlying some boys' risk of antisocial behavior.

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Although much has been written about the utility of applying transactional models to the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used such an approach to examine how children influence maternal wellbeing throughout their development. Using a sample of males from predominantly low-income families, the current study explored reciprocal relations between boys' overt disruptive behavior (boys' ages 5 to 10 years) and maternal depressive symptoms. We then examined this model with youth-reported antisocial behaviors (ASB) and maternal depressive symptoms when the boys were older, ages 10 to 15. In middle childhood, evidence was found for both maternal and child effects from boys' ages 5 to 6 using both maternal and alternative caregiver report of child aggressive behavior. In the early adolescence model, consistent maternal effects were found, and child effects were evident during the transition to adolescence (boys' ages 11 to 12). The findings are discussed in reference to reciprocal models of child development and prevention efforts to reduce both maternal depression and the prevalence of child antisocial behavior. KeywordsMaternal depression; Externalizing behavior; Antisocial behavior; Reciprocal effects; Transactional model Parental psychopathology has been found to be a consistent and robust correlate of children's maladjustment (DelBello and Geller 2001;Goodman and Brumley 1990;Lapalme et al. 1997). Due to the prevalence of depression, especially in women, maternal depression has been the focus of numerous research studies on parental psychopathology and its association with child psychopathology. Findings in the extant literature provide substantial evidence for an association between maternal depression and negative child outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing child problem behaviors (for reviews of this literature, see Beardslee et al. 1998;Cummings and Davies 1994;Gelfand and Teti 1990).In addition to research on the relation between maternal depression and different forms of child psychopathology, associations have been found between child characteristics and parental behavior (Bell and Harper 1977;Elgar et al. 2004;Lytton 1990). Rather than consider parent effects on children and child effects on parents to be separate processes, reciprocal models of socialization regard parenting behaviors and child characteristics as recurrent, transactional exchanges over time, where both parties affect the other (Bell 1968;Sameroff 1995). Whereas there is an extensive body of research on reciprocal effects between child disruptive behavior and aspects of parenting (Bell and Harper 1977;Danforth et al. 1991 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript 2001), substantially less attention has been paid to potential bidirectional effects between child disruptive behavior and parental mental health, such as depressive symptoms, over time. As the social and economic cost of adult depression and its association with negative child outcomes is high (Pin...

In the current study, we examined latent growth in 731 young children’s inhibitory control from ages 2 to 4, and whether demographic characteristics or parenting behaviors were related to initial levels and growth in inhibitory control. As part of an ongoing longitudinal evaluation of the Family Check-Up (FCU), children’s inhibitory control was assessed yearly at ages 2, 3, and 4. Inhibitory control was initially low and increased linearly to age 4. High levels of harsh parenting and male gender were associated with low initial status in inhibitory control. High levels of supportive parenting were associated with faster growth. Extreme family poverty and African American ethnicity were also associated with slower growth. The results highlight parenting as a target for early interventions in contexts of high socioeconomic risk.

Although much has been written about transactional models in the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used this approach to examine how child behavior might be related to parental well-being. This study used latent growth curve modeling to test transactional models of age 2 child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, and age 4 internalizing and externalizing behaviors using a subsample of families in the Early Steps Multisite Study. In unconditional models, maternal depressive symptoms showed a linear decrease from child ages 2 to 4, whereas paternal depression did not show significant change. Observed child noncompliance at age 2 showed significant associations with concurrent reports of maternal depressive symptoms and trend-level associations with paternal depressive symptoms. For both parents, higher levels of initial depressive symptoms were related to increased age 4 child internalizing behaviors. The findings provide support for reciprocal process models of parental depression and child behavior, and this study is one of the first to present empirical evidence that fathers' depressive symptoms have bidirectional associations with their children's behavior in early childhood.

The goal of this study was to explore bidirectional associations between teens' self‐regulation and maternal and paternal parenting styles (i.e., authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive‐indulgent) over one year. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, 489 teens ages 11–16 (51% female, 70% European American, 69% in two‐parent households) and their parents completed questionnaires on two occasions. Analyses revealed high temporal stability of parenting and self‐regulation over time. No cross‐lagged effects emerged in either authoritative parenting model. Bidirectional effects were observed in the maternal authoritarian parenting model only. Child effects on parenting were revealed in both permissive‐indulgent parenting models. The interpretation of these findings and their implications for future research are delineated in the discussion.

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