Does Substance Use Exacerbate Escalation along Developmental Pathways of Covert and Overt Externalizing Behaviors among Young Men?

Objectives: The delinquency Pathways Model proposes that the majority of those who engage in serious delinquent acts have gone through a sequence of externalizing behaviors from less to more serious delinquent behaviors. This study examined whether frequency of alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs exacerbated escalation through the covert and overt pathways.

Methods: Data came from the youngest cohort of the Pittsburgh Youth Study ( = 503).

A brief validated screen to identify boys and girls at risk for early marijuana use.

To guide recruitment, the ABCD Study requires a method for identifying children at high risk for early-onset substance use that may be utilized during the recruitment process. This study was undertaken to inform the development of a brief screen for identifying youths' risk of early-onset substance use and other adverse outcomes. To be acceptable by participants in this context, consideration of potential items was limited to child characteristics previously determined to be potentially pertinent and parental cigarette smoking.

The Association Between Serious Mental Health Problems and Violence: Some Common Assumptions and Misconceptions.

The media, the general public, and politicians often emphasize that mental illness is a precursor and a cause of violence, particularly emphasizing an assumed relationship between mental illness, including psychopathy and psychosis, and the use of guns to commit violence. We report which individuals with serious mental health problems have an increased risk to commit violence (including gun violence). Second, we answer the question to what extent serious mental health problems explain most violence and especially gun-related violence.

Boys with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits: Neural response to reward and punishment and associations with treatment response.

Abnormalities in reward and punishment processing are implicated in the development of conduct problems (CP), particularly among youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. However, no studies have examined whether CP children with high versus low CU traits exhibit differences in the neural response to reward and punishment. A clinic-referred sample of CP boys with high versus low CU traits (ages 8-11; n = 37) and healthy controls (HC; n = 27) completed a fMRI task assessing reward and punishment processing.

Systematic review of early risk factors for life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited, and late-onset offenders in prospective longitudinal studies.

This paper builds on our previous systematic review of prospective longitudinal studies and examines the early risk factors associated with life-course persistent offending (LCP), adolescence-limited (AL) and late-onset (LO) offending. Out of the 55 prospective longitudinal studies which theoretically could possess the relevant information, only four provided information about risk factors associated with the different offending types. An additional three provided data so that relevant analyses could be conducted.

CBT-Enhanced Emotion Regulation as a Mechanism of Improvement for Childhood Irritability.

Research supports the clinical importance of childhood irritability, as well as its developmental implications for later anxiety and depression. Appropriate treatment may prevent this progression; however, little evidence exists to guide clinician decision making regarding treatment for chronic irritability symptoms. Given the empirical support for irritability as a dimension of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), behavioral interventions that improve ODD symptoms, especially through emotion regulation training, are strong candidates for identifying effective treatment strategies for irritability.

Dating violence in teenage girls: parental emotion regulation and racial differences.

Background: Teen dating violence (TDV) is a common phenomenon of great public concern. TDV may lead to severe long-term consequences for victims and offenders, and even more so for females than for males.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to investigate possible underlying factors for involvement in TDV either as a perpetrator or a victim.

Concurrent and Sustained Cumulative Effects of Adolescent Marijuana Use on Subclinical Psychotic Symptoms.

Objective: Adolescents who regularly use marijuana may be at heightened risk of developing subclinical and clinical psychotic symptoms. However, this association could be explained by reverse causation or other factors. To address these limitations, the current study examined whether adolescents who engage in regular marijuana use exhibit a systematic increase in subclinical psychotic symptoms that persists during periods of sustained abstinence.

Interpersonal Callousness from Childhood to Adolescence: Developmental Trajectories and Early Risk Factors.

Youth with a callous interpersonal style, consistent with features of adult psychopathy (e.g., lack of guilt, deceitful), are at risk for exhibiting severe and protracted antisocial behaviors.

Bidirectional Associations Between Externalizing Behavior Problems and Maladaptive Parenting Within Parent-Son Dyads Across Childhood.

Coercive parent-child interaction models posit that an escalating cycle of negative, bidirectional interchanges influences the development of boys' externalizing problems and caregivers' maladaptive parenting over time. However, longitudinal studies examining this hypothesis have been unable to rule out the possibility that between-individual factors account for bidirectional associations between child externalizing problems and maladaptive parenting. Using a longitudinal sample of boys (N = 503) repeatedly assessed eight times across 6-month intervals in childhood (in a range between 6 and 13 years), the current study is the first to use novel within-individual change (fixed effects) models to examine whether parents tend to increase their use of maladaptive parenting strategies following an increase in their son's externalizing problems, or vice versa.

Chronic anger as a precursor to adult antisocial personality features: The moderating influence of cognitive control.

Anger is among the earliest occurring symptoms of mental health, yet we know little about its developmental course. Further, no studies have examined whether youth with persistent anger are at an increased risk of exhibiting antisocial personality features in adulthood, or how cognitive control abilities may protect these individuals from developing such maladaptive outcomes. Trajectories of anger were delineated among 503 boys using annual assessments from childhood to middle adolescence (ages ∼7-14).

Moving in and out of Poverty: The Within-Individual Association between Socioeconomic Status and Juvenile Delinquency.

A family's SES can be changeable over time. This study was the first to investigate if such within-individual changes in family SES are associated with parallel fluctuations in boys' delinquent behavior from childhood to adolescence. Participants were a community sample of boys and their caregivers (N = 503) who were assessed annually for ten consecutive years spanning ages 7-18.

Developmental Trajectories of Marijuana Use among Men: Examining Linkages with Criminal Behavior and Psychopathic Features into the Mid-30s.

Objectives: Examine whether young men who chronically use marijuana are at risk for engaging in drug-related and non-drug-related criminal offending and exhibiting psychopathic personality features in their mid-30s.

Methods: Patterns of marijuana use were delineated in a sample of predominately Black and White young men from adolescence to the mid-20s using latent class growth curve analysis. Self-report and official records of criminal offending and psychopathic personality features were assessed in the mid-30s.

The Association of Alcohol and Drug Use with Persistence of Violent Offending in Young Adulthood.

Purpose: This study expanded upon an earlier study, which examined the associations between heavy drinking and persistence of serious violent offending through emerging adulthood (approximate age 25), by examining associations between alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use and disorders and persistence of serious violent offending through young adulthood (approximate age 36).

Methods: We used official records and self-reported longitudinal data from Black and White men from early adolescence through young adulthood ( = 391). Men were divided into four violence groups: non-violent, desisters, persisters, and very late-onsetters.

The development of youth-onset severe obesity in urban US girls.

Objective: To understand the incidence and persistence of severe obesity (≥1.2× 95 BMI percentile-for-age) in girls across the transition to adolescence, and map developmental trajectories of adolescent severe obesity in a high-risk sample.

Methods: We examined ten years of prospectively collected data from a population sample of urban girls (n=2,226; 53% African American, aged 7-10 in 2003-2004).

Divergent marijuana trajectories among men: Socioeconomic, relationship, and life satisfaction outcomes in the mid-30s.

Background: Given recent changes in marijuana policy in the United States, it is important to understand the long-term effects of marijuana use on adult functioning. We examined whether men who displayed different trajectories of marijuana use from adolescence through emerging adulthood (age ∼15-26) differed in terms of socioeconomic, social, and life satisfaction outcomes in their mid-30s.

Methods: Data came from a longitudinal sample of men who were recruited in early adolescence (N=506) and followed into adulthood.

Urban Neighborhood Features and Longitudinal Weight Development in Girls.

Introduction: The literature on environment and obesity is characterized by studies that are often cross-sectional and lack racial diversity. This study examined associations between neighborhood features and BMI development over 6 years in an urban sample of 2,295 girls (56% African American; mean age at baseline, 11.2 years) in 2004.

Constancy and Change in the Prevalence and Frequency of Offending When Based on Longitudinal Self-reports or Official Records: Comparisons by Gender, Race, and Crime Type.

Introduction: The study examines age-crime prevalence and age-crime frequency curves based on longitudinal data from boys in the Pittsburgh Youth Study and girls in the Pittsburgh Girls Study.

Results: Results show that the prevalence of the age-crime curve for theft and violence (based on self-reports or police charges) followed the typical age-crime curve for males and slightly less distinctly for females, with the peak of offending occurring earlier for self-reports than for police charges. The decrease in police charges for violence and theft took place at an earlier age for females than males, but this was not distinct when self-reported delinquency was the criterion.

Cognitive impulsivity and the development of delinquency from late childhood to early adulthood: Moderating effects of parenting behavior and peer relationships.

Cognitive impulsivity may increase children's risk of developing delinquent behavior. However, the influence of cognitive impulsivity may depend on social environmental risk factors. This study examined the moderating effect of late childhood parenting behaviors and peer relations on the influence of children's cognitive impulsivity on delinquency development across adolescence and early adulthood, while taking possible interactions with intelligence also into account.

Why is young maternal age at first childbirth a risk factor for persistent delinquency in their male offspring? Examining the role of family and parenting factors.

Background: Children born to mothers who were younger than average at their first childbirth are at increased risk for future persistent delinquent behaviour, but explanations for this remain unclear.

Aims: Our aim was to identify possible family and parenting variables that may help explain this relationship. We hypothesised that parental stress, large number of children in the home, low socioeconomic status (including neighbourhood problems) and poor parenting would account for the link between early first motherhood and their offspring's delinquency.

Unfazed or Dazed and Confused: Does Early Adolescent Marijuana Use Cause Sustained Impairments in Attention and Academic Functioning?

There is some suggestion that heavy marijuana use during early adolescence (prior to age 17) may cause significant impairments in attention and academic functioning that remain despite sustained periods of abstinence. However, no longitudinal studies have examined whether both male and female adolescents who engage in low (less than once a month) to moderate (at least once a monthly) marijuana use experience increased problems with attention and academic performance, and whether these problems remain following sustained abstinence. The current study used within-individual change models to control for all potential pre-existing and time-stable confounds when examining this potential causal association in two gender-specific longitudinal samples assessed annually from ages 11 to 16 (Pittsburgh Youth Study N = 479; Pittsburgh Girls Study N = 2296).

The association between childhood maltreatment, mental health problems, and aggression in justice-involved boys.

The link between childhood maltreatment and adolescent aggression is well documented; yet, studies examining potential mechanisms that explain this association are limited. In the present study, we tested the association between childhood maltreatment and adolescent aggression in boys in juvenile justice facilities (N = 767) and examined the contribution of mental health problems to this relationship. Data on childhood maltreatment, mental health problems, and aggression were collected by means of self-report measures and structural equation models were used to test mediation models.

Mechanisms of Behavioral and Affective Treatment Outcomes in a Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Boys.

Evidence for effective treatment for behavioral problems continues to grow, yet evidence about the effective mechanisms underlying those interventions has lagged behind. The Stop Now and Plan (SNAP) program is a multicomponent intervention for boys between 6 and 11. This study tested putative treatment mechanisms using data from 252 boys in a randomized controlled trial of SNAP versus treatment as usual.

Girls' childhood trajectories of disruptive behavior predict adjustment problems in early adolescence.

Background: It is widely recognized that early onset of disruptive behavior is linked to a variety of detrimental outcomes in males, later in life. In contrast, little is known about the association between girls' childhood trajectories of disruptive behavior and adjustment problems in early adolescence.

Methods: This study used nine waves of data from the ongoing Pittsburgh Girls Study.