Poster #65 - Trajectories of conduct problems and hyperactivity in early childhood predict adult externalizing and internalizing problems

• In Event: 2-055 - Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Objective: While conduct problems (CP) and hyperactivity/attention problems (HAP) covary with regularity, few studies have traced the probability of co-occurring CP and HAP longitudinally, particularly beginning in toddlerhood. Further, although early trajectories of CP and HAP have been linked to later antisocial behavior, it is unclear whether these trajectories are predictive specifically of violent behaviors or serve as collateral predictors of general maladjustment in late adolescence and early adulthood. Thus, the current study sought to test three study aims. First and second, we compared the outcomes of children following four previously identified CP trajectories and four previously identified HAP trajectories from ages 2 to 10.5. Third, to examine how co-occurring patterns of CP and HAP relate to adolescent and adult functioning, we compared the following groups: 1) youth with chronic CP + chronic HAP, 2) youth with chronic HAP-only, 3) youth with low CP + low HAP, and 4) all other trajectories. It was hypothesized that children with chronic CP + chronic HAP would show the poorest outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood.

Method: Participants included a cohort of 284 low-income boys assessed prospectively from infancy through early adulthood. CP and HAP symptomatology were assessed via parent-report between ages 2 to 10.5. Outcomes included violent behavior, impulsivity, and internalizing problems assessed via self-report at age 20, established correlates of antisocial behavior (e.g., deviancy training) assessed via observational tasks at age 17, and juvenile and adult court record data of violent crimes.

Results: Trajectories of CP and HAP from ages 2 to 10.5 are presented in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. Findings indicated that persistent trajectories of CP beginning in early childhood were more likely to have a petition for a violent crime as a juvenile or adult and show the highest levels of violent behavior, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms in early adulthood compared to all other CP trajectories. For HAP trajectories, boys with chronically high levels of HAP had higher levels of violent behavior, depression, and anxiety in early adulthood relative to children with persistently low HAP, but the chronic HAP group did not differ from the moderate desister or moderate stable HAP groups on later problem behavior. When examining trajectories of CP and HAP simultaneously, children with chronic CP + chronic HAP, but not HAP-only, were most at risk for multiple types of problem behaviors in adolescence and early adulthood, including violent behavior and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Thus, HAP symptomatology was no longer predictive of adolescent and adult functioning once co-occurring CP was accounted for.

Conclusions: Consistent with prior research suggesting that a small fraction of the adult population may account for a disproportionate share of societal costs (e.g., Caspi et al., 2016), children with co-occurring CP and HAP not only showed the highest levels of violent behavior, but also demonstrated greater depressive and anxiety symptoms in early adulthood compared to other groups. Findings underscore the importance of assessing for co-occurring CP among children presenting with elevated HAP to better evaluate their risk for later violent behavior.

Authors

• Chardée Galán, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Frances Lynn Wang, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Erika Forbes, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author