Consequences of childhood reading difficulties and behaviour problems for educational achievement and employment in early adulthood.

Background: Reading difficulties (RDs) and behaviour problems (BPs) are two common childhood problems that have a high degree of stability and often negatively affect well-being in both the short and longer terms.

Aims: The study aimed to shed light on the unique and joint consequences of these two childhood problems for educational and occupational outcomes in early adulthood.

Sample: Data were drawn from a life-course longitudinal study of psychosocial development, the Australian Temperament Project.

Stability of risky driving from late adolescence to early adulthood.

This study examined the stability of risky driving behaviour from late adolescence to early adulthood among 823 young Australian drivers participating in an ongoing longitudinal study. This issue was explored by examining the stability of risky driving between the ages of 19-20 and 23-24 years (1) across the cohort and (2) among individuals. Focusing on cohort-wide trends, a modest reduction in the occurrence of speeding was observed across the sample between 19-20 and 23-24 years.

The longitudinal prediction of alcohol consumption-related harms among young adults.

This study explores the longitudinal pathways by which risk and protective factors influence the development of alcohol-related harms in a representative community sample of 941 young adults (19-20 years) from Victoria, Australia, focusing on the role of concurrent risky drinking. Impulsivity at 15-16 years, alcohol-related harms at 15-16 years and 17-18 years, frequency of intoxication at 17-18 years, and antisocial behavior, friends' drinking and living arrangements at 19-20 years were directly related to alcohol-related harms, as well as indirectly related to harms through increased risky drinking. Paternal drinking at 17-18 years was directly related to alcohol-related harms.

Cannabis and depression: an integrative data analysis of four Australasian cohorts.

Background: This study presents an integrative data analysis of the association between frequency of cannabis use and severity of depressive symptoms using data from four Australasian cohort studies. The integrated data comprised observations on over 6900 individuals studied on up to seven occasions between adolescence and mature adulthood.

Methods: Repeated measures data on frequency of cannabis use (not used/ View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Precursors and correlates of anxiety trajectories from late childhood to late adolescence.

The present research employed a prospective, multi-informant design to examine precursors and correlates of differing anxiety profiles from late childhood to late adolescence. The sample consisted of 626 boys and 667 girls who are participants in the Australian Temperament Project, a large, longitudinal, community-based study that has followed young people's psychosocial adjustment from infancy to adulthood. The present research analyzes data collected from the first 12 waves of data, from 4-8 months to 17 years.

Predictors of positive development in emerging adulthood.

This article responds to recent calls for a focus on successful development in young people and examination of its developmental precursors, in order to identify potentially modifiable targets for interventions. The current study examined child and adolescent precursors of positive functioning in emerging adulthood, including individual characteristics, relationship factors, and connections to the community, using a multidimensional positive development measure at 19-20 years. The sample consisted of 511 males and 647 females who were participants in the Australian Temperament Project, a population based longitudinal study that has followed young people's psychosocial adjustment from infancy to early adulthood.

Risky driving among young Australian drivers II: Co-occurrence with other problem behaviours.

This study examined the co-occurrence of risky driving with a range of externalising and internalising problems among 1055 young Australian drivers participating in an ongoing, 23-year longitudinal study. This issue was examined by: (1) investigating the co-occurrence of risky driving and other problem outcomes at 19-20 years; (2) exploring the rate of single and multiple problems among high, moderate and low young risky drivers and (3) investigating connections between risky driving in early adulthood and adolescent problem behaviours. Concurrent and longitudinal associations between risky driving and both substance use (alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use, binge drinking) and antisocial behaviour were found.

Mental health and wellbeing of Australian adolescents: pathways to vulnerability and resilience.

The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) provides a unique lens through which to view he pathways to vulnerability and resilience that Australian children take from infancy to adolescence, and beyond. Commencing in 1983, the ATP is now completing its 24th year and 14th wave of data collection. The present paper provides an overview of the data on adolescent antisocial behaviour, substance use, internalising problems and aspects of positive development and wellbeing.

Risky driving among young Australian drivers: trends, precursors and correlates.

Young drivers are significantly over-represented among those injured or killed in road traffic accidents. Young adults' greater tendency to engage in risky driving behaviours has been implicated in their high crash involvement rate. While considerable research has examined the driving patterns of young adults and situational factors associated with their involvement in crashes, less is known about the characteristics or circumstances in young drivers' earlier lives that may have contributed to their current driving behaviour.

Parent influences in the transmission of eating and weight related values and behaviors.

Early adolescent boys (n = 587) and girls (n = 619) and a parent completed questionnaires, that assessed child dieting behaviors, body dissatisfaction and tendency to overeat, child's current and ideal size, mother and father dieting, and encouragement of the child to diet.

Behavioural problems in Sri Lankan schoolchildren: associations with socio-economic status, age, gender, academic progress, ethnicity and religion.

Little is known about behavioural and emotional adjustment in children in Sri Lanka, and this study is the first attempt to assess mental health problems in this population. Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman R (1994) A modified version of the Rutter parent questionnaire including items on children's strengths: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 35:1483-1494) with parent, teacher and child informants, in a large sample of 10- to 13-year-old school children from Colombo, we found rates and types of problems consistent with other international studies of child mental health.

A longitudinal study of adolescent adjustment following family transitions.

Background: This study examined the impact of family transitions, that is, parental separation, divorce, remarriage and death, upon the lives of Australian children and adolescents in a longitudinal study of temperament and development.

Methods: Using longitudinal and concurrent questionnaire data, outcomes for young people experiencing transitions were compared with those of a random comparison group whose biological parents remained together.

Results: No significant group differences were found with regard to behavioural and emotional adjustment concurrently or across time, nor on academic outcomes and social competence.

Risk and protection factors for different intensities of adolescent substance use: when does the Prevention Paradox apply?

The 'Prevention Paradox' applies when low-risk individuals in a population contribute the most cases of a condition or problem behaviour by virtue of their being in the majority, thereby recommending a universal or whole of population approach to prevention. The applicability of a universal as opposed to a targeted high-risk approach to the prevention of youth substance use was examined in two studies of children and adolescents conducted in Victoria, Australia. These studies were reanalysed by recombining developmental, social and individual measures to form cumulative risk indices for substance use.

Apolipoprotein E genotype and temperament: a longitudinal study from infancy to the late teens.

Objective: To replicate an earlier Finnish study by Keltikangas-Järvinen et al. (5) reporting that the APOE genotype is associated with temperamental traits involving increased activity.

Methods: DNA was collected from 683 Australian children who had participated in a longitudinal study of childhood temperament from 4 to 8 months up to 17 to 18 years.

The long-term significance of teacher-rated hyperactivity and reading ability in childhood: findings from two longitudinal studies.

Background: The aims of this study were twofold: first, to examine behavioural and academic outcomes of children with hyperactivity, using data from two longitudinal studies; and second, to examine comparable psychosocial outcomes for children with early reading difficulties.

Methods: Measures of teacher-rated persistent hyperactivity, and reading ability obtained during early primary school were available for children from the Australian Temperament Project and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Both samples were followed up to assess behavioural and academic outcomes during the adolescent and early adult years.

Lack of association of a single-nucleotide polymorphism of the mu-opioid receptor gene with anxiety-related traits: results from a cross-sectional study of adults and a longitudinal study of children.

There is evidence from animal experiments that the mu- and delta-opioid receptors may play a role in anxiety and depression. It might therefore be expected that functional polymorphisms of these genes in humans are associated with anxiety and depression. We investigated a single-nucleotide polymorphism (Asn40Asp) of the mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1).

Association of polymorphisms of the estrogen receptor gene with anxiety-related traits in children and adolescents: a longitudinal study.

Anxiety problems and associated temperamental traits are multifactorial, determined by the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. Genetic effects may involve both neurotransmitters and hormones. A good candidate gene for association with anxiety-related traits is the estrogen receptor (ESRalpha).