This investigation extends as ongoing longitudinal study in which several forms of risk (i.e., bio-psycho-social) have been investigated as precursors of children's social-emotional and school maladjustment. Continuation expands the purview of this investigation from early childhood to late grade school and early adolescence. The long-term objective of this project is to advance knowledge about the origins and evolution of specific forms of maladjustment throughout the periods of childhood and adolescence.
Specific aims are to identify and track attributes of the child and his or her social ecology, including early behavioral dispositions and relationship experiences/histories that may increase or decrease risk for early- and later-emerging forms of dysfunction.
These aims are investigated developmentally with both normative and high-risk samples, and hypotheses are derived from a cumulative-transactional model of risk and maladjustment. A key premise of this model is that risk and maladjustment operate as cyclical or transactional influences that tend to maintain or amplify emerging patterns of maladjustment over time. Several types of maladjustment are under investigation, including early- and later- emerging indicators of: (a) externalizing behavior and affective disorders (e.g., conduct problems, delinquent/violent acts, anger/explosiveness), (b) internalizing behavior and affective disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, loneliness, low self-esteem), and (c) school failure (e.g., underachievement, scholastic disengagement, school avoidance, truancy, suspensions, and drop out).
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