Childhood Temperament and Family Environment as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Trajectories From Ages 5 to 17

Abstract

Childhood temperament and family environment have been shown to predict internalizing and externalizing behavior; however, less is known about how temperament and family environment interact to predict changes in problem behavior. We conducted latent growth curve modeling on a sample assessed at ages 5, 7, 10, 14, and 17 (N = 337). Externalizing behavior decreased over time for both sexes, and internalizing behavior increased over time for girls only. Two childhood variables (fear/shyness and maternal depression) predicted boys' and girls' age-17 internalizing behavior, harsh discipline uniquely predicted boys' age-17 internalizing behavior, and maternal depression and lower family income uniquely predicted increases in girls' internalizing behavior. For externalizing behavior, an array of temperament, family environment, and Temperament x Family Environment variables predicted age-17 behavior for both sexes. Sex differences were present in the prediction of externalizing slopes, with maternal depression predicting increases in boys' externalizing behavior only when impulsivity was low, and harsh discipline predicting increases in girls' externalizing behavior only when impulsivity was high or when fear/shyness was low. Keywordsexternalizing; internalizing; temperament; family environment; sex differences Childhood Temperament and Family Environment as Predictors of Internalizing and Externalizing Trajectories from Age 5 to Age 17Understanding how child characteristics and the family environment relate to increases and decreases in problem behavior across childhood and adolescence is of key interest to developmental and clinical psychologists. One avenue to expand such knowledge is to examine the link between specific child characteristics and specific problem behaviors. Several studies have shown that family environmental factors might moderate the relationship between specific child temperamental characteristics and child internalizing and externalizing behavior (Bates, Pettit, Dodge, & Ridge, 1998;Morris et al., 2002;Stoolmiller, 2001). However, knowledge about the unique and interactive effects of temperamental characteristics and family environment on change in internalizing and externalizing behavior from early childhood to late adolescence is limited. Further, we know little about whether boys and girls follow similar patterns of change and prediction. In this article, we examine the role of boys' and girls' impulsivity, fear/shyness, and family environment at age 5 on the development of internalizing and externalizing behavior through late adolescence.Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Leslie Leve, Oregon Social Learning Center, 160 East 4 th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97401-2426. E-mail: lesliel@oslc.org. Developmental trajectories-Epidemiological and community-based studies suggest that internalizing behavior is relatively stable across childhood, but increases somewhat during adolescence (Bongers, Koot, van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2003;Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). There is a...

The interaction between temperament and the family environment in adolescent substance use and externalizing behaviors: Support for diathesis–stress or differential susceptibility?

“…Support for the differential susceptibility model was found in four studies Burk et al, 2011;Leve et al, 2005;Rioux et al, 2016), all assessing reactivity measures of temperament. In those studies, in addition to higher levels of externalizing behaviors or alcohol use in adverse family environments, more impulsive and disinhibited children as well as those low in fearfulness/shyness had lower levels of externalizing behaviors and alcohol use in positive family environments or in the absence of adversity compared to children lower in impulsivity and disinhibition and higher in fearfulness/ shyness.…”

“…Two studies assessed overarching temperament profiles and found significant interaction effects (Wills et al, 2001;Windle, 1992). Six of the ten studies assessing reactivity measures found significant interactions Burk et al, 2011;Leve et al, 2005;Rioux et al, 2016;Stice & Gonzales, 1998), with four of the six studies showing a further moderating effect of sex Burk et al, 2011;Leve et al, 2005;. Results for self-regulatory measures of temperament were consistent, although based on only a few studies.…”

“…Fearfulness assessed in adolescence was examined in two studies Sentse et al, 2011), with only one study showing a medium sized significant interaction with maternal appropriateness in the prediction of externalizing behaviors, supporting the diathesis-stress model . A study assessing a combination of fearfulness and shyness in childhood (Leve et al, 2005) found small interactions with coercive parenting supporting the differential susceptibility model in the prediction of externalizing behaviors. Impulsivity was examined in three studies.…”

“…The first of these three studies found small interactions supporting the diathesis-stress model with parental control and support assessed in adolescence in the prediction of antisocial behaviors, alcohol use and illicit substance use (Stice & Gonzales, 1998). The two other studies found interactions between impulsivity and coercive parenting assessed in childhood predicting adolescent externalizing behaviors (Leve et al, 2005) and alcohol use frequency (Rioux et al, 2016), reporting small effect sizes and supporting the differential susceptibility model. Finally, two studies using the same sample examined disinhibition with family stress, authoritative and authoritarian parenting assessed in childhood in the prediction of alcohol use, with two significant interactions supporting the differential susceptibility model and one interaction that did not support either model Burk et al, 2011).…”

“…A first longitudinal study conducted by Leve, Kim, and Pears (2005) followed 337 participants from 5 to 17 years and modeled externalizing behaviors across these years with linear growth curves with the intercept centered at 17 years. Models were tested separately for boys and girls and they examined the interactions of impulsivity and fearfulness/shyness with coercive parenting.…”