The long-term effectiveness of the Family Check-Up on school-age conduct problems: Moderation by neighborhood deprivation.

Several studies suggest that neighborhood deprivation is a unique risk factor in child and adolescent development of problem behavior. We sought to examine whether previously established intervention effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on child conduct problems at age 7.5 would persist through age 9.

A family-based intervention for improving children's emotional problems through effects on maternal depressive symptoms.

Objective: This study focused on whether a brief family-based intervention for toddlers, the Family Check-Up (FCU), designed to address parent management skills and prevent early conduct problems, would have collateral effects on maternal depressive symptoms and subsequent child emotional problems.

Method: Parents with toddlers were recruited from the Women, Infants, and Children Nutritional Supplement Program based on the presence of socioeconomic, family, and child risk (N = 731). Families were randomly assigned to the FCU intervention or control group with yearly assessments beginning at child age 2.

Protective factors in the development of early child conduct problems.

The present study utilized a resilience model to investigate child, family, and community protective factors in toddlerhood as they relate to low levels of conduct problems at age 5 in a sample of low income children at risk for early disruptive problem behavior. Child, family, and community factors were associated with lower levels of conduct problems at age 5. Child, family, and community protective factors also distinguished between children who remained below and above a clinical threshold for aggressive problems between age 2 and 5.

The Predictive Utility of Early Childhood Disruptive Behaviors for School-Age Social Functioning.

Research suggests that school-age children with disruptive behavior (DB) problems frequently demonstrate impaired social skills and experience rejection from peers, which plays a crucial role in the pathway to more serious antisocial behavior. A critical question is which DB problems in early childhood are prognostic of impaired social functioning in school-age children. This study examines the hypothesis that aggression in early childhood will be the more consistent predictor of compromised social functioning than inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, or oppositional behavior.

Maternal depression in childhood and aggression in young adulthood: evidence for mediation by offspring amygdala-hippocampal volume ratio.

Background: There is abundant evidence that offspring of depressed mothers are at increased risk for persistent behavior problems related to emotion regulation, but the mechanisms by which offspring incur this risk are not entirely clear. Early adverse caregiving experiences have been associated with structural alterations in the amygdala and hippocampus, which parallel findings of cortical regions altered in adults with behavior problems related to emotion regulation. This study examined whether exposure to maternal depression during childhood might predict increased aggression and/or depression in early adulthood, and whether offspring amygdala:hippocampal volume ratio might mediate this relationship.

Inhibitory control as a mediator of bidirectional effects between early oppositional behavior and maternal depression.

Maternal depression is an established risk factor for child conduct problems, but relatively few studies have tested whether children's behavioral problems exacerbate mothers' depression or whether other child behavioral characteristics (e.g., self-regulation) may mediate bidirectional effects between maternal depression and child disruptive behavior.

Developmental pathways to sexual risk behavior in high-risk adolescent boys.

Objective: Adolescent boys' involvement in pregnancy and sexual risk behavior is a public health concern. Although research has identified predictors of sexual risk behavior during adolescence, few studies have investigated precursors to boys' sexual risk behavior beginning in early childhood, the identification of which could serve to inform interventions and help reduce involvement in pregnancy. Our goal was to identify early developmental pathways associated with sexual risk behavior in a sample of low-income adolescent boys.

Indirect Effects of the Family Check-Up on School-Age Academic Achievement Through Improvements in Parenting in Early Childhood.

This project examined the hypothesis that the impact of the Family Check-Up on parent use of positive behavior support would indirectly improve academic achievement scores at school age. The study included a sample of 731 high-risk families recruited from Women, Infant, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program settings in 3 geographically distinct areas. The results demonstrated that changes in positive parenting between the child ages of 2 and 3 were associated with higher scores on children's school-age academic achievement, as measured by the Woodcock-Johnson III (W-J) Academic Skills composite.

Prevention of problem behavior through annual family check-ups in early childhood: intervention effects from home to early elementary school.

This randomized intervention trial examined the effects of yearly Family Check-Ups (FCUs) and tailored parent management training on parent report of problem behavior from age 2 to 5 years and teacher report of oppositional behavior at age 7.5. A multiethnic risk sample of 731 families in 3 distinct geographical settings who were receiving assistance from the Women, Infants, and Children Nutritional Supplement (WIC) program were randomly assigned to a yearly FCU.

Revisiting data related to the age of onset and developmental course of female conduct problems.

Children who exhibit persistently elevated levels of conduct problems (CP) from early childhood, so-called early-starters, are known to be at increased risk for continued CP throughout middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Theoretical and empirical work has focused on this subgroup of children characterized by similar risk factors, an early age of onset, and a persistent developmental course of CP. However, females were historically neglected from this literature.

Early predictors of boys' antisocial trajectories.

Despite the large number of studies tracing patterns of youth antisocial behavior (AB) during adolescence, few have prospective data on the developmental precursors of AB beginning during infancy. Using a cohort of 268 low-income boys first assessed at 18 months, the current study examined predictors of early- and late-starting trajectories of AB assessed during early childhood and early adolescence. Four trajectory groups were identified, including early- and late-starting groups, a low stable group, and a high decreasing group, characterized by multiple risk factors during early childhood and early adolescence.

Longitudinal predictors of school-age academic achievement: unique contributions of toddler-age aggression, oppositionality, inattention, and hyperactivity.

This project examined the unique predictive validity of parent ratings of toddler-age aggression, oppositionality, inattention, and hyperactivity-impulsivity to academic achievement at school-age in a sample of 566 high-risk children and families. The study also investigated potential indirect effects of the Family Check-Up on school-age academic achievement through changes in child behavior problems. The results demonstrated that toddler-age aggression was most consistently associated with school-age academic achievement, albeit modestly.

Serotonin transporter genotype modulates the association between depressive symptoms and amygdala activity among psychiatrically healthy adults.

Recent attempts to understand the biological bases of depression vulnerability have revealed that both the short allele of the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and activity in the amygdala are associated with depression. Other studies have reported amygdala hyperactivity associated with the 5-HTTLPR short allele, linking the genetic and neuroimaging lines of research and suggesting a mechanism whereby the short allele confers depression risk. However, fewer investigations have examined the associations among depression, 5-HTTLPR variability, and amygdala activation in a single study.

Atypical depression in children and adolescents.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) with atypical features has been described in adults. Furthermore, several studies have suggested that tricyclic antidepressants were less effective for MDD with atypical features than for MDD without atypical features. Thus, it may be important to determine whether atypical features are present in MDD.