A further look at the prognostic power of young children's reports of depressed mood and feelings.

A primary objective of the present study was to determine the validity of first graders' self-reports of depressed mood and feelings. To that end, the prognostic power of first grade self-reports of depressed mood and feelings was examined with respect to later psychopathology and adaptive functioning in a population of urban school children (N = 946). First grade self-reports of depressed mood predicted later child academic functioning, the need for and use of mental health services, suicidal ideation, and a diagnosis of major depressive disorder by age 14. The prognostic power of these early self-reports suggests that children as young as 5 or 6 years of age are capable of providing valid reports of depressed mood and feelings.

Core elements of developmental epidemiologically based prevention research.

In the early 1990's, important progress was documented in prevention research on mental and behavioral disorders, with recommendations for a prevention research agenda. One of the earliest implementation efforts was the workshop, "A Scientific Structure for the Emerging Field of Prevention Research," sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and The Johns Hopkins University Prevention Research Center, and held in Baltimore, Maryland, in December of 1994. The purpose of the workshop was to merge three perspectives from the traditionally disparate areas of epidemiology, life course development, and intervention trials technology into an integrated, interdisciplinary effort that would define a scientific structure enabling rapid advancement in prevention science. As a consequence of that workshop, the papers were written that are contained in this and the next special issue on prevention of the American Journal of Community Psychology. This first paper is a description of the salient features of developmental epidemiologically-based prevention research. Beyond the above three perspectives, we discuss the role of developmental and intervention theories; measurement of implementation, mediators, and moderators, including multi-stage sampling and measurement; the central role of multilevel growth modeling; concepts of attributable risk and prevented fraction; proximal/distal modeling and effect sizes; and partnerships between researchers and communities.

Proximal impact of two first-grade preventive interventions on the early risk behaviors for later substance abuse, depression, and antisocial behavior.

We assessed the immediate effects of two universal, first-grade preventive interventions on the proximal targets of poor achievement, concentration problems, aggression, and shy behaviors, known early risk behaviors for later substance use/abuse, affective disorder, and conduct disorder. The classroom-centered (CC) intervention was designed to reduce these early risk behaviors by enhancing teachers' behavior management and instructional skills, whereas the family-school partnership (FSP) intervention was aimed at improving parent-teacher communication and parental teaching and child behavior management strategies. Over the course of first and second grades, the CC intervention yielded the greatest degree of impact on its proximal targets, whereas the FSP's impact was somewhat less. The effects were influenced by gender and by preintervention levels of risk. Analyses of implementation measures demonstrated that greater fidelity to the intervention protocols was associated with greater impact on behavior ratings and on achievement scores, thus providing some evidence of specificity in the effect of the interventions.

Targeting early antecedents to prevent tobacco smoking: findings from an epidemiologically based randomized field trial.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined whether interventions aimed at aggressive/disruptive classroom behavior and poor academic achievement would reduce the incidence of initiation of smoking. METHODS: An epidemiologically based, universal randomized preventive trial involved 2311 children in 2 classroom-based preventive interventions or controls. Each intervention was directed at 1 of the aforementioned 2 antecedents over first and second grades in 19 urban schools. RESULTS: Smoking initiation was reduced in both cohorts for boys assigned to the behavioral intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Targeting early risk antecedents such as aggressive behavior appears to be an important smoking prevention strategy.

The effect of the level of aggression in the first grade classroom on the course and malleability of aggressive behavior into middle school.

This paper is on the influences of the classroom context on the course and malleability of aggressive behavior from entrance into first grade through the transition into middle school. Nineteen public elementary schools participated in developmental epidemiologically based preventive trials in first and second grades, one of which was directed at reducing aggressive, disruptive behavior. At the start of first grade, schools and teachers were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. Children within each school were assigned sequentially to classrooms from alphabetized lists, followed by checking to insure balanced assignment based on kindergarten behavior. Despite these procedures, by the end of first quarter, classrooms within schools differed markedly in levels of aggressive behavior. Children were followed through sixth grade, where their aggressive behavior was rated by middle school teachers. Strong interactive effects were found on the risk of being highly aggressive in middle school between the level of aggressive behavior in the first grade classrooms and each boy's own level of aggressive, disruptive behavior in first grade. The more aggressive first grade boys who were in higher aggressive first grade classrooms were at markedly increased risk, compared both to the median first grade boys, and compared to aggressive males in lower aggressive first grade classrooms. Boys were already behaving more aggressively than girls in first grade; and no similar classroom aggression effect was found among girls, although girls' own aggressive behavior did place them at increased risk. The preventive intervention effect, already reported elsewhere to reduce aggressive behavior among the more aggressive males, appeared to do so by reducing high levels of classroom aggression. First grade males' own poverty level was associated with higher risk of being more aggressive, disruptive in first grade, and thereby increased their vulnerability to classroom level of aggression. Both boys and girls in schools in poor communities were at increased risk of being highly aggressive in middle school regardless of their levels of aggressive behavior in first grade. These results are discussed in terms of life course/social field theory as applied to the role of contextual influences on the development and etiology of severe aggressive behavior.

Grandmother involvement in child caregiving in an urban community.

In a community-defined, epidemiologic sample in East Baltimore, we examined grandmothers' rates of co-residence and their involvement in four parenting activities. Co-residence rates exceeded the national average. Six types of family households with grandmothers were identified, and their frequency varied by race. Neither grandmother age nor employment was associated with grandmothers' parenting involvement, although family structure was. Grandmothers who were the sole parent (21%) or co-parent with a grandfather (6.5%) were most involved in child care and had the fewest number of helpers. Grandmothers living with single mothers (41%) were the next most involved, while grandmothers in mother/father households (9%) were least involved.

Effect of concentration problems on the malleability of children's aggressive and shy behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: Previous research has demonstrated the central role of early childhood concentration problems in the development of aggression and other maladaptive behaviors. The present study investigated the moderating effect of concentration problems on the impact of a classroom-based preventive intervention directed at aggressive and shy behaviors in an epidemiologically defined sample of 1,084 urban first-grade children. METHOD: Concentration problems, aggressive behavior, and shy behavior were assessed by a structured teacher interview (the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation-Revised) in the fall and spring of first grade. RESULTS: Children with high ratings on concentration problems in the fall had higher levels of teacher-rated aggressive and shy behavior in the spring than did children without such problems. The intervention reduced aggressive and shy behavior in children regardless of fall concentration level. Boys, but not girls, in the intervention condition with high concentration problems had higher levels of spring aggression than those without such problems, but they also showed the greatest reductions in aggressive behavior from fall to spring. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that aggressive behavior is malleable in children with concentration problems, provide further evidence on the etiological significance of concentration problems for the development of maladaptive behavior, and highlight the importance of directly targeting concentration problems to maximize preventive intervention impact.

Family structure and aggressive behavior in a population of urban elementary school children.

OBJECTIVE: This report examined associations between family structure and 393 fourth-grade children's aggressive behavior. METHOD: In an epidemiologically defined urban community population, both teacher and parent ratings of child aggressive behavior were examined among family structures that reflected current demographics. Relative risks for teacher- and parent-rated child aggressive behavior in mother-alone households were compared with those in the next most prevalent family structures (mother-father, mother-grandmother, and mother-male partner families). RESULTS: With all income groups combined, teachers rated boys and girls in mother-alone families as more aggressive relative to mother-father families. Among low-income families, the protective effects for mother-father families were not apparent, and mother-male partner families were associated with an increased risk for teacher-rated aggression for boys. CONCLUSION: Absence of and type of second adult present, child gender, home and school context, and income were important factors that moderated the associations between family structure and child aggressive behavior in this urban setting.

The course and malleability of aggressive behavior from early first grade into middle school: results of a developmental epidemiologically-based preventive trial.

The course and malleability of aggressive behavior from beginning elementary school through transition into middle school was investigated. In a developmental epidemiologically defined population of 1000 urban first graders, a two year classroom-based randomized preventive trial was aimed at reducing aggressive behavior, an antecedent of delinquency, violent behavior, and heavy drug use in adolescence and adulthood. Earlier we reported impact in first grade on teacher and peer ratings and on classroom observations. We report here on the course and on sixth grade teacher ratings of aggressive behavior. Improvement was observable during transition times, in first grade and in middle school, among the males in the preventive intervention who were more aggressive in first grade.

Developmental epidemiologically based preventive trials: baseline modeling of early target behaviors and depressive symptoms.

Describes a conceptual framework for identifying and targeting developmental antecedents in early childhood that have been shown in previous work to predict delinquency and violent behavior, heavy drug use, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms and possibly disorders in late adolescence and into adulthood. Criteria are described that guided choices of targets for two epidemiologically based, randomized preventive trials carried out in 19 elementary schools in the eastern half of Baltimore, involving more than 2,400 first-grade children over the course of first and second grades. Baseline models derived from the first of two cohorts show the evolving patterns of concurrence among the target antecedents. The central role of concentration problems emerged. From Fall to Spring in first grade, concentration problems led to shy and aggressive behavior and poor achievement in both genders and to depressive symptoms among girls. There was evidence for reciprocal relationships in girls. For example, depressive symptoms led to poor achievement in both girls and boys, whereas poor achievement led to depressive symptoms in girls but not boys, at least over the first-grade year. These results provide important epidemiological data relevant to the developmental paths leading to the problem outcomes and suggest preventive trials.

Analysis of the elements of attention: a neuropsychological approach.

A model for conceptualizing the components or elements of attention is presented. The model substitutes for the diffuse and global concept of "attention" a group of four processes and links them to a putative system of cerebral structures. Data in support of the model are presented; they are derived from neuropsychological test scores obtained from two samples, the first consisting of 203 adult neuropsychiatric patients and normal control subjects, and the second, an epidemiologically-based sample of 435 elementary school children. Principal components analyses of test scores from these two populations yielded similar results: a set of independent elements of attention that are assayed by different tests. This work presents a heuristic for clinical research in which the measurement of attention is essential.

Black grandmothers in multigenerational households: diversity in family structure and parenting involvement in the Woodlawn community.

We report here the frequency of black grandmothers' coresidence in households with first-grade children, their patterns of involvement in parenting, and the degree to which family structure and employment affected the grandmothers' parenting involvement in a 1966/1967 community-defined population. Coresidence between grandmothers and their target first-grade grandchildren was found in 10% of the households. The 130 grandmothers' parenting involvement was substantial, second only to mother involvement, and was characterized by 2 parenting activity patterns: control and punishment, and support and punishment. The degree of grandmothers' parenting involvement differed by family structure, with grandmothers in mother-absent homes most likely to be involved. Grandmothers' employment did not moderate their engagement in parenting behaviors. These findings are consistent with previous reports of significant parenting involvement by black extended family members.

Families and mental illness: current interpersonal and biological approaches (Part 1). Contributions by the Society for Life History Research on Psychopathology: epidemiology, life course development, and family research.

FAMILY research in mental health has until recently been largely confined within specific disciplines or fairly narrow perspectives, with little interdisciplinary integration. While sociologists, geneticists, psychologists, psychiatrists and scholars in related disciplines all have developed explanations regarding the familial origins or transmission of psychopathology and mental disorders, their work has largely remained isolated in the separate fields and is usually published in separate journals. We believe that the importance of Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes lies in its mission to promote the integration of such work, not only in regard to family research but in the broad arena of research in mental health and illness. The Society for Life History Research on Psychopathology has always been concerned with interdisciplinary longitudinal investigation. Its 1984 meeting focused upon new opportunities in methods and in theory building in family research. This set of five papers and the papers to be published in the next issue were first presented at that meeting, hosted in Baltimore by the Department of Mental Hygiene, The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. They reflect continuing evolution toward a multidisciplinary family research perspective.

Early predictors of age at first use of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes.

This paper is a report of the relationships between various measures of social adaptation to the first grade classroom and the age at which alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana were first used by teenagers who began elementary school in a poor black urban community on the South Side of Chicago. Prospective longitudinal community epidemiological data were collected periodically in first and third grades from consecutive total cohorts of children in the 1960s. The 1966-67 population (cohort 3) was followed up at age 16 or 17. This population of 705 children is reported on here regarding early predictors of their first use of these substances. There are three main findings: (1) boys tended to use all substances at an earlier age than girls; (2) students who performed better on first grade IQ and Readiness tests tended to initiate substance use at an earlier age; (3) girls (but not boys) who were rated by their first grade teachers as shy or having learning problems tended to initiate use at a later age. The relationships of these findings to our past investigations of paths leading to substance use are discussed.