This proposal requests support for a longitudinal investigation of the family antecedents and life-course outcomes of children's problem behaviors, both externalizing (e.g., destructive, irritable, overactive) and internalizing (e.g., fears, timidity, excessive dependence). The proposed research addresses central questions regarding the development and persistence of such behavior. In conceptual design, the study unites two largely independent strands of investigation: the emergence and development of problem behavior in childhood, especially its antecedents in families under stress, and the long-term implications of childhood problem behavior for the adult life course, in work, family and health patterns. The study is concerned with processes by which continuities in personality are established and maintained; and with the conditions which enable problem children to circumvent social difficulties and disorganization in the adult years. Data for the research come from the well-known Berkeley Guidance Study at the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. The Guidance Study began with over 200 newborns in 1928-29, and collected data annually up to the end of World War II. These data include the original measurements of problem behavior, as developed by Jean Macfarlane. Follow-ups have been carried out at three points in the adult years: 1960, 1970, and 1982. The analysis is organized around four research phases. The first focuses on the process by which family hardship is linked to chiildren's problem behavior, with attention to cinditional variations and the role of protective resources in the family. The second part examines the behavior and psychological correlates of problem behavior through the adolescent years, at home, school, and with peers. The third phase views childhood problem behaviors as potential precursors of the adult life course, including the timing, order, and general experience of the adult transition; the development of work, marital, and parental careers; and mental health at mid-life. The fourth part involves qualitative case studies through intensive culling of all records available on individual subjects from childhood to mid-life. Statistical analyses will employ bothunivariate and multivariate techniques in developing and testing causal models. The study's significance stems from the need to understand the implications of children's problem behavior across the life course.
| Caspi, A; Herbener, E S (1993) Marital assortment and phenotypic convergence: longitudinal evidence. Soc Biol 40:48-60 |
| Caspi, A; Herbener, E S; Ozer, D J (1992) Shared experiences and the similarity of personalities: a longitudinal study of married couples. J Pers Soc Psychol 62:281-91 |
| Caspi, A (1991) Prolegomena to a model of continuity and change in behavioural development. Ciba Found Symp 156:209-19;discussion 219-23 |
| Caspi, A; Herbener, E S (1990) Continuity and change: assortative marriage and the consistency of personality in adulthood. J Pers Soc Psychol 58:250-8 |
| Caspi, A; Bem, D J; Elder Jr, G H (1989) Continuities and consequences of interactional styles across the life course. J Pers 57:375-406 |
| Caspi, A (1987) Personality in the life course. J Pers Soc Psychol 53:1203-13 |
