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Biomedical subjects

Rolf Loeber

Publications and source records attributed to Rolf Loeber.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Longitudinal development of antisocial behaviors in young and early adolescent Puerto Rican children at two sites.

OBJECTIVE: This report provides descriptive longitudinal findings over three waves of a study designed to assess the development of antisocial behaviors in young and early adolescent Puerto Rican children at two sites. METHOD: Through the use of standard assessment measures, representative samples of Puerto Rican children of both genders 5 to 13 years of age and their adult caretakers were interviewed at two sites: the South Bronx in New York City (n = 1,138) and the Standard Metropolitan Areas in Puerto Rico (n = 1,353; N = 2,491). RESULTS: Although no differences in prevalence between the two sites were apparent at baseline, analyses of the longitudinal data show that site differences emerge over time, with a decrease in risk of antisocial behavior over time in the Standard Metropolitan Areas relative to the Bronx. CONCLUSIONS: The decreased risk of these disorders in the Standard Metropolitan Areas corroborates the low rates in Puerto Rico reported in previous research. Future analyses of these data are needed to identify the risk and protective factors associated with this difference.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Why some generations are more violent than others: assessment of age, period, and cohort effects.

Empirical longitudinal studies assessing why community-level violence rates change over time are lacking. Despite a wide-ranging literature, questions remain as to whether changes over time are due to factors occurring in specific periods (period effects) or individuals in successive cohorts (cohort effect). The objective was to assess the relative contribution of age, period, and cohort effects on violence trends. The authors assessed differences in self-reported violence between two cohorts of males (n = 1,009) from the Pittsburgh Youth Study, which tracked delinquency and risk factors from 1987 to 2000. The youngest cohort were aged 7-19 years, and the oldest cohort were aged 13-25 years. Yearly measures of violence were examined through generalized estimating equations. The oldest cohort reported higher levels of violence even after adjustment for age and major individual-level risk factors (odds ratio (OR) = 1.45, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.17, 1.81) such as gang participation and drug dealing, as well as community-level factors (OR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.65, 2.82). However, when period effects were included, cohort differences were rendered insignificant (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.78, 1.94). The authors conclude that differences in the rates of violence over time may be attributed to changing social factors (period effects) and not to differences between the individuals (cohort effect) of cohorts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Women with antisocial behaviour: long-term health disability and help-seeking for emotional problems.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported that women who display antisocial behaviour (ASB) as adults or adolescents are at increased risk of poor mental and physical health, but have not tested effects of sociodemographics, or used only incarcerated samples. AIMS: The authors sought first to test associations between ASB and emotional or physical health problems in non-incarcerated women, and second whether any such association could be explained by sociodemographic factors. METHOD: The sample was 1218 mothers, aged 22-59, of boys randomly selected from grades 1, 4 and 7 (aged about 7, 10 and 13 respectively) in US urban public schools in 1987 and 1988. The 30% of boys designated most antisocial on initial examination and a 30% random sample of the remainder entered the longitudinal study. Demographics for the mothers, data on their lifetime ASB, help-seeking for emotional and/or physical health problems were collected at interview with them. A history of adolescent conduct problems and/or lifetime police contacts led to classification as antisocial for this study. RESULTS: A total of 214 (17.6 %) of the mothers met our criteria for ASB. Compared with the women without such history, the women with ASB were younger, less well educated, of lower socioeconomic status, had a higher rate of unemployment and more of them were single mothers. They more often sought help for emotional problems and reported higher rates of long-term physical health problems, even when the effects of sociodemographic factors were taken into account. CONCLUSIONS: Although the findings rule out many sociodemographic factors as simple explanations for the association between ASB and poor emotional and physical health, more work is needed on the nature and extent of such disorder, and of temporal relationships between the key events: poor health and ASB.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Do we know which interventions are effective for disruptive and delinquent girls?

Disruptive and delinquent girls are not well served by the mental health and juvenile justice systems. Interventions that have been developed for the behavior problems of boys are frequently applied to girls despite growing evidence for a female-specific phenotype, developmental course, and set of risk factors from middle childhood onwards. The current review demonstrates that evidence of the effectiveness of treatments for girls with disruptive and delinquent behaviors is extremely limited, with relatively few studies including sufficient numbers of females or reporting on treatment effects by gender. However, a small body of evidence suggests that interventions specifically designed to address female behavior problems or risk factors can be effective in ameliorating disruptive and delinquent behaviors in both pre-adolescence and adolescence. Multi-modal interventions that target interacting domains of risk also show promise. Methodological issues are discussed and recommendations are made for the development and evaluation of future interventions to prevent and reduce girls' disruptive and delinquent behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Is prenatal smoking associated with a developmental pattern of conduct problems in young boys?

OBJECTIVE: Prenatal smoking is robustly associated with increased risk of conduct problems in offspring. Observational studies that provide detailed phenotypic description are critical for generating testable hypotheses about underlying processes through which the effects of prenatal smoking may operate. To this end, we use a developmental framework to examine the association of exposure with (1) oppositional defiant disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in young boys and (2) the pattern of delinquent behavior at adolescence. METHOD: Using diagnostic measures and repeated measures of delinquency, we compare exposed and nonexposed boys from the youngest cohort of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (N = 448). RESULTS: Exposed boys were significantly more likely to (1) develop oppositional defiant disorder and comorbid oppositional defiant disorder-attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder but not attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder alone and (2) to have an earlier onset of significant delinquent behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The early emergence and developmental coherence of exposure-related conduct problems is striking and is consistent with a behavioral teratological model. Phenotypically, exposure-related conduct problems appear to be characterized by socially resistant and impulsively aggressive behavior. Whether prenatal smoking plays an etiological role in or is a risk marker for the development of conduct problems, exposed offspring are at increased risk of an early-starter pathway to conduct problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

A study of disruptive behavior disorders in Puerto Rican youth: I. Background, design, and survey methods.

OBJECTIVE: This is the first of two related articles on a study carried out between 2000 and 2003 designed to assess the prevalence, associated comorbidities, and correlates of disruptive behavior disorders in two populations of Puerto Rican children: one in the Standard Metropolitan Areas of San Juan and Caguas in Puerto Rico, and the other in the south Bronx in New York City. METHOD: This article provides the study's background, design, and methodology. Probability samples of children ages 5 to 13 years were drawn at the two sites (n = 2,491). Subjects and their primary caretakers were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV and a wide array of risk factor measures. The samples were weighted to correct for differences in the probability of selection resulting from sample design and to adjust for differences from the 2000 U.S. Census in the age/gender distribution. RESULTS: The samples are representative of the populations of Puerto Rican children in the south Bronx and in the Standard Metropolitan Areas in Puerto Rico. Of the 2,940 children identified as eligible for the study, 2,491 participated for an overall compliance rate of 85%. CONCLUSIONS: The study results, to be described in an accompanying report, are generalizable to the two target populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

A study of disruptive behavior disorders in Puerto Rican youth: II. Baseline prevalence, comorbidity, and correlates in two sites.

OBJECTIVE: This is the second of two associated articles. The prevalence, correlates, and comorbidities of disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) in two populations are reported. METHOD: Probability community samples of Puerto Rican boys and girls ages 5-13 years in San Juan, and the south Bronx in New York City are included (n = 2,491). The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV and measures of correlates were employed to look at the association between DBDs and potential correlates, taking comorbidity into account. Data presented in this report were collected primarily between 2002 and 2003 but spanned a 3-year period from August 2000 to August 2003. RESULTS: There were no significant age or site differences among males in rates of DBDs, but rates among females increased with age in the south Bronx and decreased with age in Puerto Rico. The salient comorbidity of DBDs was with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Multiple regression showed lack of parental warmth and approval, poor peer relationships, and parental report of aggressive behavior during the toddler years to be the most significant correlates of DBDs in this population. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural factors, such as level of acculturation, were not associated with DBDs. The results suggest that clinical and preventive efforts need to emphasize interpersonal factors such as parent-child relationships and peer interactions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Juvenile sex offenders compared to non-sex offenders: a review of the literature 1995-2005.

An unresolved but clinically important issue in the literature on juvenile delinquency is to what extent juvenile sex offenders resemble non-sex offenders with respect to individual, familial, and environmental characteristics. The current article reviewed published studies (1995-2005) comparing sex offenders with non-sex offenders. The 17 articles meeting the inclusion criteria suggest that differences exist between sex offenders and non-sex offenders on personality characteristics, behavioral problems, history of sexual abuse, nonsexual offending, and peer functioning. Inconsistent results were found for demographic factors, family functioning and background, antisocial attitudes, and intellectual and neurological functioning. Although it is likely that sex offenders can be differentiated from nonsex offenders on a number of characteristics, caution is warranted because of methodological differences between studies and small samples size. Also, studies show that sex offenders are a heterogeneous group. Further research should take into account this heterogeneity by including sex offenders from clearly circumscribed groups and investigating characteristics specifically related to sexual behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Interpersonal callousness, hyperactivity/impulsivity, inattention, and conduct problems as precursors to delinquency persistence in boys: a comparison of three grade-based cohorts.

Boys who exhibit interpersonal callousness (IC), hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI), inattention (IN), and conduct problems (CP) may be at risk for exhibiting persistent delinquent behavior. However, few studies have established the distinctiveness of these constructs or examined their relative contributions to the prediction of delinquent behavior across different developmental periods. This study explores these issues using boys from the youngest (1st grade, N = 849), middle (4th grade, N = 868), and oldest (7th grade, N = 856) cohorts of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the 4 constructs are related, yet independent, from childhood to adolescence. After controlling for the overlap among the constructs, CP significantly predicted delinquency persistence in the youngest cohort, whereas CP and IN predicted delinquency persistence in the middle cohort. IC uniquely predicted delinquency persistence for the oldest cohort. The results suggest that the saliency of specific predictors of delinquent behavior may change from childhood to adolescence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Mood and hormone responses to psychological challenge in adolescent males with conduct problems.

BACKGROUND: Relations between stress hormones and antisocial behavior are understudied. METHODS: A subsample (n = 335) of at-risk males recruited in first grade for a longitudinal study were recruited at approximately 16 years of age for a laboratory study, including two psychological challenges: describing their worst experience on videotape, and a task in which a loud tone could be avoided. Measures of affect, urine, and saliva were collected multiple times before and after challenges. RESULTS: Negative affect increased following the worst-event challenge and decreased following the avoidance challenge. Mean conduct problems (CP) across ages 7-17 years were positively related to negative affect and inversely related to positive affect. CP were inversely related to post-challenge urinary epinephrine (E) levels when baseline E and potential confounds were controlled. Cortisol concentrations in saliva collected soon after the first challenge were positively related to CP in a post hoc subset of youths with extreme CP. CONCLUSIONS: Key findings A) associated persistent CP with more negative affectivity and less positive affectivity, B) replicated and extended prior findings of an inverse association of CP and urinary E, and C) suggested provocative hypotheses for future study relating CP, trauma history, trauma recall, and cortisol reactivity.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

Predictors of contact difficulty and refusal in a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Attrition presents a serious problem to researchers collecting longitudinal data. Participant loss threatens both the internal and external validity of research findings. This study sought to examine predictors related to contact difficulty and refusals in a longitudinal study. METHOD: Data for this paper came from the Developmental Trends Study, a longitudinal study investigating the development of disruptive behaviour disorders in a sample of 177 clinic-referred boys. Annual follow-up assessments were conducted, ages for the periods examined ranged from 11 to 19 years. The predictor domains during project years 1-4 included demographics, child functioning, parental functioning, parenting skills and participant dispersion. RESULTS: These indicated that participant's older age, low socioeconomic status, the presence of callous and un-emotional behaviours, and having a father with antisocial personality disorder predicted contact difficulty, while participant's older age, living in a rural environment and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were predictive of refusals. Participant dispersion was not significantly related to either contact difficulty or refusal status. CONCLUSIONS: Investigating a broader range of variables may better allow researchers to identify participants who may be at risk of attrition. Early identification of 'difficult' participants enables development of retention strategies to minimize attrition.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Adolescent psychopathy and the big five: results from two samples.

The present study examines the relation between psychopathy and the Big Five dimensions of personality in two samples of adolescents. Specifically, the study tests the hypothesis that the aspect of psychopathy representing selfishness, callousness, and interpersonal manipulation (Factor 1) is most strongly associated with low Agreeableness, whereas the aspect of psychopathy representing impulsivity, instability, and social deviance (Factor 2) is associated with low Agreeableness, low Conscientiousness, and high Neuroticism. Data from 13- and 16-year-old boys and their mothers from two samples of the Pittsburgh Youth Study are used to test these hypotheses. Results were consistent across age and rating source in supporting the initial hypotheses, providing support for the construct of juvenile psychopathy and the interpretation of psychopathy as a constellation of traits drawn from a general model of personality functioning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Neurocognitive impairments in boys on the life-course persistent antisocial path.

This study addresses 5 unresolved issues in the neuropsychology of antisocial behavior using a community sample of 325 school boys in whom neurocognitive measures were assessed at age 16-17 years. Antisocial behavior measures collected from age 7-17 years were cluster analyzed and produced 4 groups: control, childhood-limited, adolescent-limited, and life-course persistent. Those on the lifecourse persistent path and also on the childhood-limited path were particularly impaired on spatial and memory functions. Impairments were independent of abuse, psychosocial adversity, head injury, and hyperactivity. Findings provide some support for the life-course persistent versus adolescent-limited theory of antisocial behavior and suggest that (a) neurocognitive impairments are profound and not artifactual and (b) childhood-limited antisocials may not be free of long-lasting functional impairment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Reduced electrodermal activity in psychopathy-prone adolescents.

This study tests the hypothesis that psychopathy-prone adolescents show reduced anticipatory skin conductance responding. Electrodermal activity was recorded while participants anticipated and responded to a 105 dB signaled or unsignaled white-noise burst. Using an extreme groups design, the authors used Child Psychopathy Scale (D. R. Lynam, 1997) scores from a community sample of 335 male adolescents (age 16) to form control (n = 65) and psychopathy-prone (n = 65) groups. Significantly more psychopathy-prone participants were nonresponders in the signaled anticipatory (p = .014), signaled responsivity (p = .037), and unsignaled responsivity (p = .003) conditions compared with controls. Anticipatory hyporesponsivity of psychopathy-prone adolescents similar to the electrodermal hyporesponsivity found in psychopathic adults suggests that this autonomic impairment is present by adolescence and may predispose individuals to adult psychopathy.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2005

Predicting future antisocial personality disorder in males from a clinical assessment in childhood.

It is essential to identify childhood predictors of adult antisocial personality disorder (APD) to target early prevention. It has variously been hypothesized that APD is predicted by childhood conduct disorder (CD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or both disorders. To test these competing hypotheses, the authors used data from a single childhood diagnostic assessment of 163 clinic-referred boys to predict future APD during early adulthood. Childhood Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) CD, but not ADHD, significantly predicted the boys' subsequent APD. An interaction between socioeconomic status (SES) and CD indicated that CD predicted APD only in lower SES families, however. Among children who met criteria for CD, their number of covert but not overt CD symptoms improved prediction of future APD, controlling for SES.

Aggression↗
PubMed2005

The prediction of violence and homicide in young men.

In this prospective study, the authors predicted violence and homicide in 3 representative school samples (N = 1,517). Participants were part of a longitudinal, multiple cohort study on the development of delinquency in boys from late childhood to early adulthood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Thirty-three participants were convicted of homicide, 193 participants were convicted of serious violence, whereas another 498 participants self-reported serious violence. Predictors of violence included risk factors in the domains of child, family, school, and demographic characteristics. Boys with 4 or more violence risk factors were 6 times more likely to later commit violence in comparison with boys with fewer than 4 risk factors (odds ratio [OR] = 6.05). A subset of risk factors related to violence also predicted homicide among violent offenders. Boys with 4 or more risk factors for homicide were 14 times more likely to later commit homicide than violent individuals with fewer than 4 risk factors (OR = 14.48). Implications for the prevention of violence and homicide are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Developmental transitions among affective and behavioral disorders in adolescent boys.

BACKGROUND: This paper expands upon recent efforts to advance beyond the examination of concurrent comorbidity between affective and behavioral disorders by testing developmental sequences among disorders. Doing so allows for improved tests of theories, such as Capaldi and Patterson's failure model of Conduct Disorder (CD) and depression. Furthermore, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is rarely considered distinctly from CD, minimizing the ability to identify distinct effects among behavioral disorders. METHODS: This paper used data from the Developmental Trends Study, a clinic-referred cohort of 177 boys, along with their parents, who were assessed regularly using a structured clinical interview and a comprehensive set of other measures. Boys were recruited when they were between the ages of 7 and 12, and were reassessed annually until age 18. Predictive regression models tested the continuities among disorders, with depression, overanxious disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), ODD and CD examined separately as outcomes. RESULTS: Each disorder showed homotypic continuity, but a clear developmental sequence of heterotypic continuity also emerged. ADHD was predicted by no other disorders, and exclusively predicted ODD. CD was predicted only by ODD. However, ODD was also directly predictive of future anxiety and depression, and anxiety predicted future depression as well. A specific test of the failure model of CD and depression supported that model. CONCLUSIONS: ODD appears as a pivotal developmental disorder in young males, in that ODD is notably influential in both subsequent behavioral and affective disorders. CD influences later depression only indirectly, through psychosocial impairment. Anxiety precedes depression, and ADHD is not predicted by other disorders.

Adolescent↗