Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov;49(11):1105-16.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2010.08.006.

Adult outcomes of childhood dysregulation: a 14-year follow-up study

Robert R Althoff  1 , Frank C Verhulst, David C Rettew, James J Hudziak, Jan van der Ende
Affiliations

Adult outcomes of childhood dysregulation: a 14-year follow-up study

Robert R Althoff et al. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: Using a general population sample, the adult outcomes of children who presented with severe problems with self-regulation defined as being concurrently rated highly on attention problems, aggressive behavior, and anxious-depression on the Child Behavior Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) were examined.

Method: Two thousand seventy-six children from 13 birth cohorts 4 to 16 years of age were drawn from Dutch birth registries in 1983. CBCLs were completed by parents at baseline when children from the different cohorts were 4 to 16 years of age and sampled every 2 years for the next 14 years. At year 14 the CBCL and DSM interview data were collected. Logistic regression was used to compare and contrast outcomes for children with and without dysregulation, as measured by the latent-class-defined CBCL-DP. Sex and age were covaried and concurrent DSM diagnoses were included in regression models.

Results: Presence of childhood CBCL-DP at wave 1 was associated with increased rates of adult anxiety disorders, mood disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, and drug abuse 14 years later. After controlling for co-occurring disorders in adulthood, associations with anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders with the CBCL-DP remained, whereas the others were not significant.

Conclusions: A child reported to be in the CBCL-DP class is at increased risk for problems with regulating affect, behavior, and cognition in adulthood.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean T-scores for the 7 latent classes defined at Wave 1. Note: A/D = anxious-depressed; AGG = aggressive behavior; AP = attention problems; CBCL = Child Behavior Checklist; DP = dysregulation profile; RBB = rule breaking behavior; SOM = somatic complaints; THTP = thought problems; W/D = withdrawn
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Althoff RR. Dysregulated children reconsidered. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2010;49(4):302–305. - PubMed
    1. Greene RW. The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children. 2. New York: Harper Collins; 2001.
    1. Carlson GA. Who are the children with severe mood dysregulation, a.k.a. "rages"? Am J Psychiatry. 2007;164(8):1140–1142. - PubMed
    1. Leibenluft E, Charney DS, Towbin KE, Bhangoo RK, Pine DS. Defining clinical phenotypes of juvenile mania. Am J Psychiatry. 2003;160(3):430–437. - PubMed
    1. Althoff RR, Rettew DC, Faraone SV, Boomsma DI, Hudziak JJ. Latent class analysis shows strong heritability of the child behavior checklist-juvenile bipolar phenotype. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;60(9):903–911. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms