The distinction between beliefs legitimizing aggression and deviant processing of social cues: testing measurement validity and the hypothesis that biased processing mediates the effects of beliefs on aggression. Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group.

In 2 studies the authors examined knowledge and social information-processing mechanisms as 2 distinct sources of influence on child aggression. Data were collected from 387 boys and girls of diverse ethnicity in 3 successive years. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the discriminant validity of the knowledge construct of aggression beliefs and the processing constructs of hostile intent attributions, accessing of aggressive responses, and positive evaluation of aggressive outcomes. In Study 2, structural equation modeling analyses were used to test the mediation hypothesis that aggression beliefs would influence child aggression through the effects of deviant processing. A stronger belief that aggressive retaliation is acceptable predicted more deviant processing 1 year later and more aggression 2 years later. However, this latter effect was substantially accounted for by the intervening effects of deviant processing on aggression.

Distorted perceptions in dyadic interactions of aggressive and nonaggressive boys: effects of prior expectations, context, and boys' age.

This study examined distorted self- and peer perceptions in aggressive and nonaggressive boys at preadolescent and early adolescent age levels. Subjects completed semantic differential ratings of themselves and of their peer partners following two brief dyadic discussion tasks with competitive inductions and a game-playing task with a cooperative induction. Subjects also rated their expectations for self- and peer behavior prior to the two competitive interaction tasks. Research assistants later rated videotapes of the interactions. Aggressive boys had more distorted perceptions of dyadic behavior as they overperceived aggression in their partners and underperceived their own aggressiveness. These distorted perceptions of aggression carried over for aggressive boys into the third interaction task with a cooperative induction, indicating these boys' difficulty in modulating these perceptions when the overt demand for conflict is no longer present in the situation. Results also indicated that aggressive boys' perceptions of their own behavior after the first interaction task is substantially affected by their prior expectations, in comparison to nonaggressive boys who rely more on their actual behavior to form their perceptions.

Comorbidity of conduct and depressive problems at sixth grade: substance use outcomes across adolescence.

The comorbidity of conduct and depressive problems and substance use outcomes were examined in a community-based sample of 340 African American males and females. Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use were examined at Grades 6, 8, and 10 based on the following group membership at sixth grade: (a) comorbid conduct and depressive problems; (b) conduct problems only; (c) depressive problems only; (d) neither conduct nor depressive problems. Overall, the two conduct problem groups displayed the highest levels of substance use, although at some time points, comorbid youth displayed significant higher substance use levels. Subjects with depressive problems only displayed levels of substance use that were equivalent to subjects in the nonproblem group. Results highlight the importance of controlling for comorbid symptoms, possible interactive effects between conduct and depressive problems, and implications for treatment and prevention of substance use.

The moderating effects of children's fear and activity level on relations between parenting practices and childhood symptomatology.

Parenting practices have been previously linked to childhood symptomatology. However, little consideration has been given to the potential effect of individual differences within the child on this relation. The current study assessed the moderating effects of children's activity level and fear on relations between parenting practices and childhood aggression and depressive symptoms using a sample of 64 fourth-, and fifth-grade boys. The findings showed that poorly monitored active boys and fearful boys who were exposed to harsh discipline exhibited high levels of aggression. Boys characterized by high fear who were exposed to harsh discipline or whose parents were extremely overinvolved showed elevated levels of depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that integrating children's individual differences with parenting models enhances our understanding of the etiology of childhood symptomatology. The intervention implications of such an integration are discussed.

Reactive and proactive aggression in school children and psychiatrically impaired chronically assaultive youth.

The authors proposed that reactively aggressive and proactively aggressive types of antisocial youth would differ in developmental histories, concurrent adjustment, and social information-processing patterns. In Study 1, 585 boys and girls classified into groups called reactive aggressive, proactive aggressive, pervasively aggressive (combined type), and nonaggressive revealed distinct profiles. Only the reactive aggressive groups demonstrated histories of physical abuse and early onset of problems, adjustment problems in peer relations, and inadequate encoding and problem-solving processing patterns. Only the proactive aggressive groups demonstrated a processing pattern of anticipating positive outcomes for aggressing. In Study 2, 50 psychiatrically impaired chronically violent boys classified as reactively violent or proactively violent demonstrated differences in age of onset of problem behavior, adjustment problems, and processing problems.

Screening of child behavior problems for prevention programs at school entry. The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group.

Targeted programs designed to prevent conduct problems in childhood and adolescence rely on screening systems to identify high-risk individuals. This study examines the proximal usefulness of a multiple-gating approach to screening, using teacher and parent ratings in a 2-step procedure with a sample of 382 kindergarten children. The study explored differences in the accuracy of the 2 steps of screening information and whether parents' reports of parenting practices augments the prediction of negative outcomes. The 2-step screening system was found to effectively predict negative behavior outcomes over 1 year later, although some false-positive and false-negative predictions were evident. The Parenting Practices Screen did not substantially add to prediction accuracy. The discussion emphasizes the potential contributions and problems of using screening measures.

Aggression, social acceptance, and race as predictors of negative adolescent outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: The current study examined a mixed-race, longitudinal sample of 114 boys to assess the relative power of aggression, low peer acceptance, and race in predicting a broad range of adolescent outcomes and behaviors. METHOD: Outcomes were assessed through self-report and through peer, teacher, and independent observer ratings. RESULTS: Results indicate that preadolescent levels of aggression are predictive of boys' subsequent adolescent involvement in marijuana, drugs, and alcohol and in delinquent activity. Aggression and low peer acceptance served as predictors of teacher, peer, and independent observer ratings of externalizing and internalizing behavior at follow-up. Results also indicate that peer ratings of social acceptance and of aggressive behavior operate differently across racial groups, when predicting to self-reported follow-up behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Aggressive and socially disliked boys are at risk for engaging in a progressive series of behaviors that increase their engagement in contranormative behavior. The moderating effects of race may be due to biases in elementary school peer ratings in mixed-race samples, or they may represent actual differences in how early risk markers operate with boys of different racial status.

Social-cognitive processes of severely violent, moderately aggressive, and nonaggressive boys.

This study examined social-cognitive processes of aggressive and nonaggressive boys at preadolescent and early adolescent age levels. The social-cognitive variables included processing of cues, attributions, social problem solving, affect labeling, outcome expectations, and perceived competence and self-worth. Results indicated that a wide range of social-cognitive processes is distorted and deficient for violent and moderately aggressive children, and that different types of social cognition contribute unique variance in discriminating among groups. Severely violent boys at both age levels had difficulties with cue recall, attributions, social problem solving, general self-worth, and a pattern of endorsing unusually positive affects that they may experience in different settings. Moderately aggressive boys shared some of the social-cognitive difficulties demonstrated by severely violent boys, but they also displayed indications that their aggression may be more planfully aimed to achieve expected outcomes. When the moderately aggressive and the violent boys differed from the nonaggressive boys on attributional biases and low perceived self-worth, a continuum existed with violent boys displaying more extreme social-cognitive dysfunctions than the moderately aggressive boys. These findings carry implications for cognitive-behavioral intervention with severely violent and moderately aggressive youths.

Effectiveness of a social relations intervention program for aggressive and nonaggressive, rejected children.

A sample of 52 Black aggressive, rejected and nonaggressive, rejected children were randomly assigned to receive a social relations intervention or to be in a nonintervention control group. The school-based intervention for fourth-grade children focused on positive social skill training and cognitive-behavioral strategies to promote deliberate, nonimpulsive problem solving. At both the post-treatment and the 1-year follow-up assessments, the social relations intervention was found to be effective only with the aggressive, rejected children. Implications for the importance of assessing subtypes of rejected children are discussed.

Social goals: relationship to adolescent adjustment and to social problem solving.

Examined the relations between adolescent boys' social goals of dominance, revenge, avoidance, and affiliation and (1) self-reported negative adolescent outcomes; (2) subjective sense of self-esteem; and (3) externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors, as rated by peers and teachers. Results indicated that social goal values were related to diverse aspects of self-, teacher-, and peer-reported social and behavioral functioning, with a consistent association found between a range of delinquent, substance-using, and behavioral difficulties, and endorsement of high goal values for dominance and revenge and low goal values for affiliation. Results also indicated that teacher-identified aggressive boys differed from nonaggressive boys in the value they placed on social goals, with aggressive boys placing a higher value on goals of dominance and revenge, and lower value on goals for affiliation. Finally social goal choice had a clear relation to the social problem-solving differences of aggressive and nonaggressive boys.

Predicting early adolescent disorder from childhood aggression and peer rejection.

Two large cohorts of Black 3rd-grade children from low-income families were followed into early adolescence. Adjustment at the end of the 1st year of middle school was assessed by teacher and parent ratings and by adolescent self-reports. Childhood peer social status predicted parent-reported externalized and internalized disorder and self-reported internalized disorder. Childhood aggression predicted self-reported externalized and internalized disorder and parent-reported externalized disorder. Teacher ratings of school adjustment were predicted by aggression, rejection, and sex of the child. Consensus judgments of poor adjustment were predicted by both aggression and peer rejection, with sex moderating the effect of peer rejection. Both childhood aggression and peer rejection appear to be significant predictors of adolescent disorder, with each making a predictive contribution uniquely its own.

Cognitive-behavioral intervention with aggressive boys: three-year follow-up and preventive effects.

This study examined the longer term preventive effects of a school-based intervention with boys referred by classroom teachers as highly aggressive and disruptive. Three years after intervention, boys who had received an anger coping (AC) program were compared with a group of untreated boys. The AC boys had lower rates of drug and alcohol involvement and had higher levels of self-esteem and social problem-solving skills. The AC boys were not significantly different from previously nonaggressive boys on these variables at follow-up. Although the overall intervention did not have longer term effects on delinquency rates or classroom behavior, a subset of boys who also received booster sessions did display maintenance of certain classroom behavior improvement. Implications for intensification of cognitive-behavioral interventions are discussed.

Situational social problem-solving skills and self-esteem of aggressive and nonaggressive boys.

This study was designed to assess specific social problem-solving, perceived competence, and self-esteem characteristics of 20 aggressive and 18 nonaggressive boys. Significant behavioral differences existed between the groups. The problem-solving measure provided for qualitative assessment of specific problem solutions that children consider, varying according to the interpersonal context of conflicts with peers, teachers, and parents and to the level of others' intent in conflicts (ambiguous frustration and hostile provocation). In univariate analyses, aggressive children had poorer self-esteem, generated fewer verbal assertion solutions in peer conflicts and during hostile frustration, and employed more direct action solutions with teachers and during hostile frustration. Discriminant analyses significantly differentiated the two groups. Findings indicated that future research should consider the relative distribution of specific kinds of problem situations that children produce, and that situational factors in social problem-solving skills should be addressed.

A newsletter evaluation using the Title Rating Method.

The Title Rating Method is used to measure readership interests and predict readership topics for future issues, in message ideas. This methodology was used to plan types of articles in a newsletter published through the Cancer Communication Network contract. This article describes evaluation results of the newsletter for health professionals, North Carolina Cancergram. Retrospective and prospective titles were assigned to seven categories: psychosocial, treatment, drugs, nursing issues, rehabilitation, education, and detection. Interest in the titles in each category was evaluated according to five occupational groups: nurses, pharmacists, physicians, allied health, and others. The rank order of most popular to least popular categories was: drugs, treatment, education, psychosocial, rehabilitation, detection, and nursing issues. The most popular article overall across occupational groups was an article directed primarily to physicians, "Informing the patient requires honesty, sensitivity." The readership was primarily white, female, over 35 years of age with a college degree or higher. Most of the readership work in a health related setting although 67.6 percent of the respondents spent less than ten percent of their time working with cancer patients. This is in keeping with the intent of the publication to reach health professionals outside the Cancer Center.

Client characteristics associated with behavior change for treated and untreated aggressive boys.

This study examined the relationship between subject characteristics of aggressive boys and their behavioral changes during a school year. Seventy-six boys in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades were identified by their teachers as the most disruptive and aggressive in their classes. These boys were assigned to untreated control, anger-coping, anger-coping plus goal-setting treatment, and minimal treatment goal-setting cells. The anger-coping treatment was based on cognitive behavioral procedures. In both anger-coping cells, greater reductions in rates of disruptive/aggressive off-task classroom behavior was predicted by having higher rates of these behaviors initially, and greater reductions in parents' ratings of aggression was predicted by having poor social problem-solving skills initially. Additional predictors of reductions in parents' ratings of aggression in one, but not both, anger-coping cells included having higher rates of somatic symptoms and poorer social acceptance by peers. In contrast to the other cells, those boys in the no-treatment group who demonstrated the greatest spontaneous improvement on these change measures were the ones who initially were the best problem-solvers and who had higher levels of self-esteem. This cognitive-behavioral treatment appeared to have most impact with those boys who were the most in need of intervention.