Patterns and Correlates of Offender Versatility and Specialization across a 23-Year Span for At-Risk Young Men.

This study examined patterns and correlates of offender specialization versus versatility, or more random offenses, among 206 at-risk men. Both official records and self-report data of offending from late childhood to ages 31/32 were used. Aggregate-level and individual-level analyses indicated that the predominant offender pattern for this sample was versatility.

Improving kindergarten readiness in children with developmental disabilities: Changes in neural correlates of response monitoring.

Among children diagnosed with developmental delays, difficulties in self-regulation are prominent and have been linked to school readiness problems. The current study sought to examine the impact of the Kids in Transition to School (KITS) school readiness intervention program on self-regulation, with a specific focus on response monitoring skills, among children with developmental delays. Children (n = 20 in the KITS group and n = 21 in a services as usual group) were administered a flanker task during which event-related potential data were collected to examine group differences in response monitoring.

Increasing pre-kindergarten early literacy skills in children with developmental disabilities and delays.

Two hundred and nine children receiving early childhood special education services for developmental disabilities or delays who also had behavioral, social, or attentional difficulties were included in a study of an intervention to increase school readiness, including early literacy skills. Results showed that the intervention had a significant positive effect on children's literacy skills from baseline to the end of summer before the start of kindergarten (d=.14).

Growth, Persistence, and Desistance of Alcohol Use for At-Risk Men in Their 30s.

Background: Little is known about heterogeneity in men's drinking behaviors and their related consequences across mid-adulthood, and moreover, whether individual or social factors may predict such differences. This study examined 3 indicators of alcohol use, namely alcohol volume, heavy episodic drinking (HED), and drinking-related problems for men in their 30s.

Methods: Participants were 197 at-risk men from the Oregon Youth Study assessed 5 times across ages 29 to 38 years.

Improving child self-regulation and parenting in families of pre-kindergarten children with developmental disabilities and behavioral difficulties.

The transition to school may be particularly difficult for children with developmental disabilities and behavioral difficulties. Such children are likely to experience problems with self-regulation skills, which are critical to school adjustment. Additionally, inconsistent discipline practices and low parental involvement in children's schooling may contribute to a poor transition to school.

Immediate Effects of a School Readiness Intervention for Children in Foster Care.

Research Findings: School readiness is a strong predictor of adjustment in elementary school and beyond. Children in foster care are at particular risk for academic and social difficulties in school. Limitations in self-regulatory skills and caregiver involvement among these children might contribute to a lack of school readiness.

Early school engagement and late elementary outcomes for maltreated children in foster care.

Children with a history of maltreatment and placement into foster care face elevated risks of poor psychosocial outcomes including school failure, substance use, externalizing, and deviant peer association. For children in the general population, school engagement appears to be a promotive factor in preventing negative outcomes. In this study, differences in 3 dimensions of school engagement (behavioral, affective, and cognitive) in early elementary school were explored in maltreated children in foster care (n = 93) and a community comparison group of low-socioeconomic status, nonmaltreated children (n = 54).

Heterogeneity in growth and desistance of alcohol use for men in their 20s: prediction from early risk factors and association with treatment.

Background: The course of men's alcohol use from ages 18 to 19 through 28 to 29 years was examined using growth mixture modeling (GMM) to determine alcohol trajectories for 3 conceptualizations of alcohol use: volume of use, heavy episodic drinking (HED), and drinking-related problems. Trajectory classes were validated against the young men's alcohol treatment history, and childhood/adolescent predictors of trajectory membership were examined.

Methods: Participants were 205 men from the Oregon Youth Study, an ongoing longitudinal study of predominantly White men recruited from higher crime neighborhoods who were assessed annually during their 20s.

Early elementary school adjustment of maltreated children in foster care: the roles of inhibitory control and caregiver involvement.

In this study, 85 maltreated foster children and 56 non-maltreated community children (M age=3-6 years) were assessed across kindergarten and first grade to examine the hypothesis that inhibitory control and caregiver involvement mediate associations between a history of maltreatment and foster placement and early school adjustment. Specifically, academic and social-emotional competence were evaluated. The maltreated foster children performed more poorly in academic and social-emotional competence.

Growth in alcohol use in at-risk adolescent boys: two-part random effects prediction models.

Background: Alcohol use frequently onsets and shows rapid growth during the adolescent years, but few studies have examined growth in two indicators, namely in use and in volume given use, with prediction from key risk factors measured across the adolescent years.

Methods: Based on a dynamic developmental systems framework, we predicted that the general risk pathway associated with the development of antisocial behavior (namely poor parental practices and antisocial behavior/deviant peer association) would be associated with both indicators of use in Grade 6. Specific proximal social influences, namely alcohol use by parents and peers, were also hypothesized, with growth in peer use of alcohol expected to be predictive of growth.