Also in this Issue:
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Mothers
vs fathers psychopathology as it affects children
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Preventing
antisocial and violent behaviour in youth
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Child
Neglect: Causes, Outcomes and Treatment strategies
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Treatment
of substance abusing juvenile offenders
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Antisocial
behaviour: Childhood onset or adolescence onset
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What
works for juvenile offenders
Who
Develops Conduct Disorder?
Cote, S., Tremblay,
R.E., Nagin, D.S., Zoccolilo, M., Vitaro, F. (2002) childhood Behavioural
Profiles Leading to adolescent Conduct Disorder: Risk Trajectories for
Boys and Girls, JAM, Acad. Child Psychiatry 41:0 September 2002
1086 - 1094
It has been suggested that
certain traits of personality determine and explain the continuity of
antisocial behavior from childhood to adolesence. The aim of this study
was to determine the predictive value of three behavior profiles, hyperactivity,
fearfulness and helpfulness in different combinations. The study was conducted
on children of 6 years of age. These children were assessed 7 times between
the ages of 6 and 12. A person-orientated approach was used to examine
separately boys and girls.
Results
In girls it was the combination
of hyperactivity and unhelpfulness, which increased the risk of conduct
disorder in mid- adolescence. However both these profiles are uncommon
in girls compared with boys. Girls tend to be empathic, helpful and competent.
The combination of hyperactivity and unhelpfulness is less common in girls
( 3.8% of the sample compared to boys 11.5%) than boys.
In boys the profile which predicted
conduct disorder in adolescence was the single dimension of hyperactivity.
Boys who besides being hyperactive were also fearless and unhelpful did
not increase the risk of conduct disorder.
The study does not explain
why high hyperactivity
during elementary school is sufficient conduct disorder risk for boys
but not for girls.
The sex differences in terms
of developing conduct disorder are quite remarkable. Almost three times
more boys had a conduct disorder diagnosis than girls in adolescence.
Three times more boys than girls had violent symptoms of conduct disorder
than girls. Thus a higher proportion of boys were on highly stable risk
trajectories from kindergarten on, and this may partly explain higher
number of boys having conduct disorder in adolescence than girls.
Domestic
Violence and its Effect on Children
Jaffee,
S.R., Moffitt, T.E., Caspi A., Arseneault, L. (2002). Influence of adult
Domestici Violence on Children's Internalising and Externalising Problems:
An Environmentally Informative Twin Study: American Academy of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry 41(9), 1095 - 1103.
When
parents engage in frequent, intense, and poorly resolved conflicts, their
children are likely to suffer from elevated levels of both internalising
and externalising problems. More than 10 million children in the U.S.
witness violence between their parents each year. Very young children
of inexperienced parents in their twenties are at particularly high risk
of exposure. Violence in the family of origin has been implicated in a
cycle of abuse that is transmitted across generations. Externalising and
internalising problems may aggregate in families because 1) siblings share
genetic risks for problem behaviours or 2) siblings are exposed to similar
environmental risks.
Using the Achenbach family
of instruments, and a genetically sensitive design, this study examined
whether domestic violence accounted significantly for the differences
in externalising and internalising problems, independent of genetic effects
on these behaviour problems. Mothers and teachers reported internalising
and externalising problems for 1,116 monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic(fraternal)
9 5?year?old twin pairs in the United Kingdom. Mothers reported their
experiences of domestic violence in the previous 5 years. A multivariate
model showed that adult domestic violence accounted for 2% and 5% of the
variation in children's internalising and externalising problems, respectively,
independent of genetic effects. The co-occurrence of externalising
and internalising scores was accounted for by genetic (62.6%) and shared
environmental (29.2%) factors and by domestic violence (8%). Because
domestic violence affects children's behaviour problems beyond genetic
influences, programs that successfully reduce domestic violence should
also prevent children's psychopathology. Behavioural geneticists have
suggested that children whose parents experience domestic violence may
be at genetic risk for behaviour problems. That is, adults who meet diagnostic
criteria for psychiatric disorders (including antisocial personality disorder,
substance use, and depression) are at greater risk of becoming involved
in violent intimate relationships.
These findings highlight the
importance of identifying potentially modifiable environmental risks in
the etiology of behavioural disorders.
Further, strong genetic effects
do not preclude the possibility that domestic violence or other aspects
of the environment may mediate genetic influences on behaviour. Genetically
vulnerable children may be the most susceptible to the effects of domestic
violence. Treatment strategies should work at multiple levels by 1) addressing
children's emotional insecurity, perceptions of threat, or attributions
of self?blame, 2) improving child management techniques at the level of
the parent?child relationship, and 3) offering couples therapy, which
may facilitate children's treatment gains.
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Institute
for the study of Antisocial behaviour in Youth (lAY) 
