VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study by Gersten et al. was to examine the stability and change of different behavioral disturbances across ages and by age cohorts to determine if they increase or diminish over time. METHODOLOGY: A quasi-experimental design was employed. A stratified cluster sample of Manhattan households between 125th and Houston Streets resulted interviews with the mothers of 1,034 children aged 6 to 18. About five years later the mothers were again interviewed with the same structured questionnaire regarding the child and family. The 654 item questionnaire was condensed into 18 dimensions of reliable child behavior factors. Only 16 were used for this study, and only the following 12 were used for the analysis: mentation problems, conflict with parents, regressive anxiety, fighting, delinquency, isolation, conflict with siblings, self-destructive tendencies, undemandingness, repetitive motor behavior, competition, and dependence. The remaining four factors (sex curiosity, weak group membership, non-compulsive, and delusions-hallucinations) did not reach a reliability score of .80 in both the initial and follow-up data. The analysis was restricted to the 12 that did. The analysis by age cohort was categorized into six cohorts where the first age was the mean age at Time 1 and the second age was the mean age at Time 2. The ages for the cohorts were: 1) 6.7 to 11.5, 2) 8.4 to 13.4, 3) 10.6 to 15.4, 4) 12.6 to 17.5, 5) 14.4 to 19.6, and 6) 16.4 to 21.5. The first and second cohorts represented pre- and early adolescence (puberty). The third and fourth cohorts represented early adolescence to middle and/or late adolescence. The fifth and sixth cohorts represented late adolescence to early adulthood. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: The authors found that most of the behaviors differed over time. The behaviors that increased in pathology were: conflict with parents, delinquency, self-destructive tendencies, and being undemanding. Behaviors that decreased over time included: mentation problems, regressive anxiety, isolation, conflict with siblings, and repetitive motor behavior. The behaviors that remained constant were fighting, competition, and dependency. Thus, those behaviors that reflected aggressive or antisocial behavior either increased in pathology or remained constant with age. Further, behaviors that were non-aggressive tended to decline in pathology with age. Cross-sectional analysis of the Time 1 data resulted in similar findings. Regressive anxiety and fighting decreased with age, delinquency and conflict with parents increased with age, and mentation problems and isolation remained constant. The findings were also the same across age groups of the Time 2 data. The longitudinal findings, however, were slightly different, there was no significant change in fighting with age, and mentation problems decreased with age. The were no within age group differences found for four of the six factors when compared to all age groups combined. The two factors that differed were conflict with parents and delinquency. Where conflict with parents did not show an increase in pathology in the two oldest cohorts which ranged from middle adolescence to early adulthood. A change in the pattern of delinquency was only found in the last cohort, early adulthood, where delinquency began to decline rather than increase. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - New York KW - Cohort Studies KW - Age Factors KW - Child Aggression KW - Child Antisocial Behavior KW - Child Behavior KW - Child Problem Behavior KW - Child Development KW - Juvenile Antisocial Behavior KW - Juvenile Development KW - Juvenile Aggression KW - Juvenile Behavior KW - Juvenile Problem Behavior KW - Youth Development KW - Developmental Pathway KW - Behavior Development KW - Life Course KW - Long-Term KW - Child Offender KW - Child Delinquency KW - Juvenile Delinquency KW - Juvenile Offender
Language: en
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