Research has indicated that aggressive and antisocial behavior patterns in young children is predictive of subsequent conduct disorder (CD) and the most severe prognosis for adolescents in terms of sibling abuse, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, depression, and school drop out as adolescents. Clearly, preventive intervention during the early years is particularly strategic; for successful early intervention may be able to stop children's aggressive interactions before they result in child abuse, peer rejection and negative reputations, all of which tend to lay the groundwork for conduct disorders. It is unclear, however, which type of intervention is optimal. Moreover, the cost and format of most interventions severely limits their ability to be disseminated to families of children with high risk for CD. The ultimate purpose of this research program is to develop, evaluate and improve cost-effective, widely applicable, and sustaining prevention programs for families with aggressive, oppositional and defiant (ODD) children. Our prior studies have documented that a parent skills training program using videotape modeling is highly effective in improving both parent and child behaviors. Nevertheless, 40% of children showed significant relapses 2-3 years later. Analysis showed that children who relapsed following intervention came from families characterized by considerable marital discord or divorce.
Aim 1 """""""" To test the hypothesis that one reason some children develop conduct problems, including ODD and CD, may be that their parents lack interpersonal skills in general and marital conflict resolution skills in particular. It is hypothesized that conduct-disordered children learn aggressiveness and poor communication patterns from watching their parents' marital interactions; the parents' marital relationship provides the model for the child's reactions to conflict and relationships with his/her parents and peers. We will conduct detailed assessments of 60 couples with ODD children and 60 couples with normal children.
The specific aims are to determine whether poor marital communication, weak conflict resolution sills, and negative affect are associated with parenting difficulties and with child ODD and subsequent CD, including children's poor relationships with their peers, and if so, to explore the dynamics involved.
Aim 2 : Given the association between marital distress and child behavior problems, the purpose of this grant is to evaluate a videotape-based interpersonal conflict resolution intervention for parents designed to improve long-term outcomes for ODD children and thereby prevent CD. One hundred families will be randomly assigned to one of two videotape-modeling interventions--basic parent skills group training or interpersonal conflict resolution group training or to a waiting list control group. They will be assessed at 1-month, 1- year, and 2-years post-intervention. The format of all the interventions examined is such as to significantly expand the ability of professionals to serve the increasing numbers of families with children at risk for conduct disorder. More accurate understanding of the family factors involved in ODD and more effective intervention will contribute to the prevention of CD as well as to child abuse and spouse abuse.
