Hard-to-manage preschool boys: family context and the stability of externalizing behavior

Abstract

Preschool boys identified by their teachers as active, inattentive, and impulsive (N = 42) were compared with matched classroom controls (N = 43) and with parent-identified problem boys (N = 27) on measures of family functioning often associated with children's problem behaviors, including family history of psychopathology, stressful life events, and family composition. Teacher-identified and parent-identified problem boys did not differ on measures of family adversity, and both groups came from less well functioning families than comparison boys. Mothers of problem boys, regardless of referral source, were more negative and controlling toward their sons when observed in a compliance task. Children's problem behaviors were moderately stable over a one-year follow-up period; initial symptom levels, maternal self-reported depression, and negative maternal control predicted follow-up ratings of externalizing problems.