Abstract
A risk group of disruptive boys (N=65) identified in kindergarten was assessed using the same procedures at ages 6–7, 8–9, and 10–11. Criteria used to define the predictors and criterion variable were the same at all assessment times. Severity was addressed by comparing different forms of behaviors, considering the extent of harmful consequences to others (aggressiveness was considered as most harmful, whereas inattention was considered as least harmful), manifestation in multiple settings, and extreme scores (manipulation of cutoff scores). Different assessment strategies (direct observations, ratings) and different informants (trained observers, mothers and teachers) were used. Aggressiveness as rated by mothers was highly stable from age 6 to age 11. Inattention as rated by teachers was stable only from age 6 to age 9, whereas no stability was found for observations of task inappropriate behaviors. Taskinappropriate behaviors observed in mother-child interactions and in multiple settings at age 6–7 were significant predictors of self-reported antisocial behaviors at age 12, but this prediction was not repeated at ages 8–9 and 10–11. Teacher ratings of inattention at ages 6–7 and 8–9 were also significant predictors of self-reported antisocial behaviors at age 12. The predictive power was much lower when mothers' ratings of aggressiveness were used. Findings from the present study support the hypothesis that some antisocial behavior precursors are age dependent, in that they are more characteristic of certain age groups than of others. Implications for the selection of assessment screening procedures are discussed.
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This study was funded by grants from Quebec Governments Funding Programs, CQRS, FCAR, and Canada's CRSH. We wish to thank school directors, the teachers from the Montréal Catholic School Board, the children, and the parents for their collaboration. We also thank Françcois Levert for data analysis; Lucille David, Louise Bineau, Suzanne Langelier, Suzanne Monday, and all the undergraduate students for data collection; Minh T. Trinh and Renée Beaumier for documentation; and Line Arès for typing the manuscript.
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Charlebois, P., LeBlanc, M., Gagnon, C. et al. Age trends in early behavioral predictors of serious antisocial behaviors. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 15, 23–41 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00964321
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00964321