EARLY CHILDHOOD PREDICTORS OF LOW-INCOME BOYS' PATHWAYS TO ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENCE, AND EARLY ADULTHOOD

Abstract

Guided by a bridging model of pathways leading to low-income boys' early starting and persistent trajectories of antisocial behavior, the current article reviews evidence supporting the model from early childhood through early adulthood. Using primarily a cohort of 310 low-income boys of families recruited from Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Supplement centers in a large metropolitan area followed from infancy to early adulthood and a smaller cohort of boys and girls followed through early childhood, we provide evidence supporting the critical role of parenting, maternal depression, and other proximal family risk factors in early childhood that are prospectively linked to trajectories of parent-reported conduct problems in early and middle childhood, youth-reported antisocial behavior during adolescence and early adulthood, and court-reported violent offending in adolescence. The findings are discussed in terms of the need to identify at-risk boys in early childhood and methods and platforms for engaging families in healthcare settings not previously used to implement preventive mental health services.

Keywords: Erziehung; Geschlecht; Jungen; Verhaltensprobleme bei Kindern; antisocial behavior; antisoziales Verhalten; boys; child conduct problems; comportement antisocial; conducta antisocial; crianza; depresión materna; dépression maternelle; early childhood; frühe Kindheit; garçons; gender; genre; género; maternal depression; mütterliche Depression; niños varones; parentage; parenting; petite enfance; problemas de conducta del niño; problèmes de conduite de l'enfant; temprana niñez; 児、母親の抑うつ、子どもの行為問題、反社会的行動、性別、男児、早期児童期; 兒童早期; 兒童行為問題; 反社會行為; 性別; 產婦抑鬱症; 男孩; 育兒.

Figure 1

Child and parenting contributors to conduct problems in early childhood Figure 1 was originally published in Shaw, D.S., Winslow, E.B., Owens, E. B., Vondra, J.I., Cohn, J.F., & Bell, R.Q. (1998). The development of early externalizing problems among children from low-income families: A transformational perspective. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 95–107.

Figure 2

Trajectories of boys' overt conduct problems from ages 2 to 8 Figure 2 was originally published in Shaw, D.S., Gilliom, M., Ingoldsby, E.M., & Nagin, D (2003). Trajectories leading to school-age conduct problems. Developmental Psychology, 39, 189–200.

Figure 3

Trajectories of self-reported delinquent behaviors across adolescence Figure 3 was originally published in Shaw, D. S., Hyde, L. W., & Brennan, L. M. Early predictors of boys’ antisocial trajectories (2012). Development and Psychopathology, 24, 871–888.