Biomedical subjects

F Vitaro

Publications and source records attributed to F Vitaro.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Effects of grade retention on academic performance and behavioral development.

This study examined the controversial practice of grade retention and children's academic and behavioral adjustment using data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children. We employed an autoregressive modeling technique to detect the impact of being held back during primary school on subsequent academic performance and behavioral development until age 12 years. The results indicate both a short- and long-term negative influence on academic performance for boys and girls. Children's anxious, inattentive, and disruptive behaviors persisted and, in some cases, worsened after grade retention. These prospective associations were long lasting and more pronounced when grade retention occurred early in primary school. Boys were more vulnerable to the negative influence of grade retention on academic performance and classroom disruptiveness. Disruptive behavior in girls was comparatively less associated with long-term consequences than boys. Nevertheless, girls experienced both short- and long-term academic performance problems in the aftermath of grade retention. Children's prosocial behavior appeared unaffected by grade retention. These results are independent of what would have been expected by the natural course of academic and behavioral development.

Achievement↗

PubMed2001

Predictors of persistence in a longitudinal preventive intervention program for young disruptive boys.

Several investigators have underlined the importance of long-term prevention programs in order to expect positive results for at-risk children. One essential prerequisite to addressing this issue is the retention of participants in such programs. The present study aims at examining the contribution of mother-child interactions, mother's social isolation, improvement in the mother-child relationship, and improvement in the child's behavior to the prediction of persistence. Participants (n = 59 disruptive boys) were recruited for a 3-year multicomponent preventive intervention program. Results indicated an improvement of the boys' behavior (reduction of inattention/hyperactivity and reduction of fighting) during the first year of the program, and showed that mother-child positive interactions before the beginning of the program were the best predictors of persistence. Implications of these results for long-term preventive programs are discussed.

Behavior Therapy↗

PubMed2001

Gambling, delinquency, and drug use during adolescence: mutual influences and common risk factors.

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to assess the possible mutual influence between gambling, substance use, and delinquency over a two-year period during mid adolescence, (2) to test whether variables that are usually predictive of delinquency and substance use also predict gambling, and (3) to test whether the links between the three problem behaviors could be, at least partially, accounted for by common antecedent factors (impulsivity, parental supervision, and deviant friends) assessed during early adolescence. Seven hundred and seventeen boys participated in the study. Impulsivity, parental supervision, and friends' deviancy were collected when participants were 13 and 14 years of age. Gambling, substance use, and delinquency were collected through self-reports at ages 16 and 17 years. Results showed no influence or modest influence of problem behaviors on each other from age 16 to age 17 years, once current links and auto-correlations were accounted for. Conversely, the cross-sectional links between the three problem behaviors at each age were moderately high. Impulsivity, low parental supervision, and deviant friends were predictively related to each problem. Finally, a significant, although modest, portion of the covariance between the three problem behaviors was accounted for by these three predictors. The present findings contradict previous findings about the influence of gambling on other problem behaviors and support the notion of a "general problem behavior syndrome" fed by generic risk factors.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Parents' attitudes, knowledge, and behavior toward youth gambling: a five-year follow-up.

This study compares the attitudes, knowledge, and behavior of parents of 5- to 17-year-old children regarding youth gambling. This information was obtained through two telephone surveys conducted in 1995, and 5 years later in 2000, in the Québec City area. Survey 1, in 1995, was conducted on 279 respondents, while survey 2, in 2000, was carried out with 213 respondents. Results showed a number of changes in parents' attitudes, behavior, and knowledge concerning youth gambling: For example, parents' perception of the age of onset of gambling behavior had improved slightly at the end of the 5-year period. Furthermore, parents were more satisfied with government limitation of access to gambling, and more accurately informed about legal aspects of the sale of lottery tickets. However, the percentage of parents who failed to associate youth gambling with some of its correlates (arcade attendance, parental gambling problems, and friendship with gamblers) increased from 1995 to year 2000. The improvements that were observed suggested that parents had benefited from media-transmitted information during this period. However, the deterioration of some parental attitudes, and the stability of other variables, suggest that it is still important to educate parents about youth gambling, and to design interventions adapted to parents' needs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Developmental profiles of peer social preference over the course of elementary school: associations with trajectories of externalizing and internalizing behavior.

Using a new longitudinal clustering technique, this study aimed to (a) empirically identify groups of children with distinct longitudinal profiles of peer social preference during elementary school; (b) compare these groups regarding their longitudinal pattern of classification into J. D. Coie, K. A. Dodge, and H. Coppotelli's (CDC; 1982) sociometric categories; and (c) compare these groups regarding their longitudinal trajectories of antisocial, hyperactive, and anxious behavior. Based on 299 children, 3 groups were identified: a stable popular group, a stable average group, and an unpopular group whose social preference decreased over time. Each of the groups showed considerable overlap over time with their closest corresponding CDC category (popular, average, rejected). Growth curve analyses showed that externalizing and internalizing behavior generally decreased over time, but overall means and the rates of decrease differed in the 3 groups.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗

PubMed2001

Development of sleep patterns in early adolescence.

This study examines the developmental changes of sleep patterns as a function of gender and puberty and assesses the prevalence of sleep habits and sleep disturbances in early adolescence. It also investigates the relationship between sleep patterns, sleep habits and difficulty falling asleep and nocturnal awakenings. The present analyses are based on results available for 588 boys and 558 girls for whom mothers completed questions concerning demographics and sleep at annual intervals when their child was aged 10--13 years. The results indicated that nocturnal sleep times decreased, bedtimes were delayed and differences between weekend and school day sleep schedules progressively increased with age. Gender and puberty were both associated with the timing of sleep on weekends. Girls presented longer weekend time in bed (TIB) and later weekend wake time than boys. Similarly, subjects with higher pubertal status showed longer weekend TIB and later weekend wake time than subjects with lower pubertal status. Difficulty falling asleep was associated with later weekend wake time and with sleeping with a night light. In conclusion, the gender differences commonly reported in adolescents' sleep patterns are most likely explained by girls' higher pubertal status. This study emphasizes the link between puberty and a putative physiological need for more sleep, in presence of a general reduction of sleep times during adolescence. From age 10--13 years, the delay and lengthening of the sleep period on weekends in comparison to schooldays is associated with difficulty falling asleep.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Predicting girls' conduct disorder in adolescence from childhood trajectories of disruptive behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: To examine girls' developmental trajectories of disruptive behaviors during the elementary school years and to predict conduct disorder symptoms and diagnosis in adolescence with trajectories of these behaviors. METHOD: The sample was 820 girls from the province of Quebec followed over 10 years (1986-1996). A semiparametric mixture model was used to describe girls' developmental trajectories of teacher-rated disruptive behaviors between the ages of 6 and 12 years. The trajectories were used to predict conduct disorder symptoms and diagnosis when the girls were on average 15.7 years. RESULTS: Four groups of girls following trajectories with distinct levels of disruptive behaviors were identified: a low, medium, medium-high, and high trajectory. Prediction with the trajectories indicated that girls on the medium, medium-high, and high trajectories reported a significantly higher number of conduct disorder symptoms in adolescence. However, only the girls on the medium-high and high trajectories were at significantly higher risk to meet DSM-III-R criteria for conduct disorder, compared with girls in the low group (odds ratio: 4.46). More than two thirds of the girls with conduct disorder were in the medium or higher-level trajectories. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that there is an early-onset type of conduct disorder in girls.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses and the role of perceived impairment: findings from an adolescent community sample.

The present study examined psychiatric functioning in a community sample of adolescents aged 14 to 17 years (average age of 15 years). We administered the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-2.25 (DISC-2.25) to 1,201 adolescents and their mothers to obtain prevalence estimates of DSM-III-R disorders and the amount of perceived impairment associated with these disorders. While adolescent females reported a significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders than males (15.5% vs. 8.5%), mothers indicated no sex difference. Compared with adolescent males, females had significantly higher rates of internalizing, anxiety. and depressive disorders. In contrast, the prevalence of externalizing disorders was significantly higher among adolescent males. The inclusion of an impairment criterion had a significant impact in reducing the prevalence rates of overall psychiatric disorders. This reduction occurred mainly through impairment's effects on internalizing disorders, specifically anxiety-based disorders (i.e., simple and social phobia). Given the limited research on the effect of impairment on the prevalence of adolescent psychiatric disorders, future work in this area seems warranted.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Modeling interinformant agreement in the absence of a "gold standard".

Epidemiological surveys of child and adolescent mental disorders often rely on multiple informants to get a complete diagnostic picture. A consistent finding in the literature is that different informants often do not identify the same children as being disordered. However, because current strategies for estimating interinformant agreement often involve categorizing children using less than perfectly sensitive and/or specific symptoms, biased estimates of interinformant agreement are likely. The aim of this report was to illustrate how latent class analysis (LCA) can be used to model interinformant agreement in the absence of a "gold standard". The proposed model consists of informant-specific latent variables each made up of two or more latent classes corresponding to different levels of symptomatology. Unlike most previous applications of LCA this model allows us to model the extent to which the prevalence of the disorder is the same across informants; and, in addition, the association between informants. The data set comes from a prospective longitudinal study of 2,264 children from Quebec (1,155 boys and 1,109 girls). In grade 2, teachers and mothers independently rated each child on three physical aggression behavior symptoms. We satisfactorily accounted for the cross-classification of the behavior symptoms by postulating the existence of two latent variables--one for each informant each made up of three latent classes of children: low-, medium-, and high-aggressive. The results showed that the prevalence of low- and medium-aggressive children in the population differed from teacher to mother, but that the prevalence of high-aggressive children did not. We found that the association between teacher and mother was large and positive and did not vary according to the child's physical aggression state or gender; in contrast, the association between physical aggression and gender was not the same for mother and teacher. Limitations and other potential applications of the proposed model are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Development of disturbing dreams during adolescence and their relation to anxiety symptoms.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: This work assesses the prevalence and development of disturbing dreams among adolescents and the association of these dreams with anxiety. DESIGN: Sex differences in prevalence were analyzed with chi-square analyses. Changes over time were assessed with Wilcoxon tests and cross-tabulation tables. Associations with anxiety and DSM-III-R symptoms were assessed with ANOVA designs. SETTING: N/A. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 610 boys and girls rated their recall of disturbing and normal dreams at both 13 and 16 years of age. Subgroups of subjects were evaluated for anxiety symptoms at age 13 and for DSM-III-R symptoms of separation anxiety (SA), overanxious disorder (OD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) at age 16. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The recall of disturbing dreams was more prevalent for girls than for boys at both ages, and increased over time for girls while it decreased for boys. The recall of normal dreams was also more prevalent for girls at both ages, but this difference could not fully account for the difference in recall of disturbing dreams. Normal dream recall increased from age 13 to 16 for both sexes. The frequent occurrence of disturbing dreams was associated with anxiety at age 13 and with GAD, SA and OD symptoms at age 16 for both sexes. Evidence of more numerous OD symptoms for girls with frequent disturbing dreams suggests that this form of anxiety may partially account for the observed sex difference in disturbing dream prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight a prevalence of disturbing dreams that is especially marked for adolescent girls. Unlike previous cross-sectional studies, which have found the same sex difference, this longitudinal design also calls attention to within-subjects changes in disturbing dream recall. The results also confirm that the frequent recall of disturbing dreams is associated with pathological symptoms of trait anxiety-apparently even as young as 13 years of age. Further study of disturbing dreams may contribute to understanding of associated pathophysiological factors which, too, vary by sex (e.g., PTSD, insomnia, depression).

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Influence of deviant friends on delinquency: searching for moderator variables.

Three categories of potential moderators of the link between best friend's deviancy and boys' delinquency during early adolescence were investigated: personal (i.e., disruptiveneness profile during childhood, attitude toward delinquency), familial (i.e., parental monitoring, attachment to parents), and social (i.e., characteristics of other friends). Best friend's and other friends' deviancy were assessed during preadolescence through the use of peer ratings. Potential moderators were assessed at the same age period with teacher ratings or self-reports. Finally, delinquent behaviors were assessed at ages 13 and 14, as well as age 10 for control purposes, with self-reports. Results showed that boys' disruptiveness profiles during childhood, attachment to parents, and attitude toward delinquency moderated the link between best friend's deviancy and later delinquent behaviors. Other friends' deviancy and parental monitoring had main effects but no moderating effects. These results help clarify the conditions under which exposure to a deviant best friend can influence boys' delinquent behaviors. They also help to reconcile different theoretical explanations of the role of deviant friends in the development of delinquency.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Sleep and circadian phase characteristics of adolescent and young adult males in a naturalistic summertime condition.

Our aim was to compare the circadian phase characteristics of healthy adolescent and young adult males in a naturalistic summertime condition. A total of 19 adolescents (mean age 15.7 years) and 18 young adults (mean age 24.5 years) with no sleep problems took part in this study. Two-night polysomnographic (PSG) sleep recordings and 24h secretion patterns of urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin were monitored in all 37 subjects. Sleep-wake patterns were initially assessed at home using a standard sleep diary. Circadian assessment included the measure of dim light melatonin offset (DLMOff) and the morningness-eveningness (M/E) questionnaire. As expected, compared to young adults, adolescents habitually spent more nocturnal time in bed and spent more time (and percentage) in delta sleep. No difference was found between adolescents and young adults on multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) sleep onset latencies, M/E, melatonin secretion measures (24h total, nighttime, daytime, and night ratio), and DLMOff. For the subjects as a whole, correlational analyses revealed a significant association between the DLMOff and M/E and between both these phase markers and habitual bedtimes, habitual rising times, and melatonin secretion measures (daytime levels and the night ratio). No association was found between phase markers and daytime sleepiness or sleep consolidation parameters such as sleep efficiency or number of microarousals. These results together indicate that adolescents and young adults investigated during summertime showed similar circadian phase characteristics, and that, in these age groups, an evening phase preference is associated with a delayed melatonin secretion pattern and delayed habitual sleep patterns without a decrease in sleep consolidation or vigilance.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Development of parasomnias from childhood to early adolescence.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines the prevalence and developmental changes of parasomnias and assesses gender differences, relationships between parasomnias, and associations with anxiety and family adversity using data collected during the course of a longitudinal study of a representative sample of children from Québec. METHOD: The present analyses are based on results available for 664 boys and 689 girls for whom mothers have completed questions concerning demographics, parasomnias, and anxiety level. For the prevalence and developmental aspects of parasomnias, prospective data were collected at annual intervals from 11 to 13 years old and retrospective data for the period between ages 3 and 10 years were collected when the children were 10 years old. RESULTS: Somniloquy, leg restlessness, and sleep bruxism are the most frequent parasomnias. More girls were afflicted with leg restlessness, while enuresis and somniloquy were more common in boys. High anxiety scores were found in children suffering from night terrors, somniloquy, leg restlessness, sleep bruxism, and body rocking. Parasomnias were unrelated to the index of family adversity. CONCLUSIONS: Although sleepwalking, night terrors, enuresis, and body rocking dramatically decreased during childhood, somniloquy, leg restlessness, and sleep bruxism were still highly prevalent at age 13 years, paralleling results found in adults. Sleepwalking, night terrors, and somniloquy are conditions often found together. The only robust gender difference was for enuresis. High anxiety scores in parasomnias are reported for the first time in a large, controlled study. Sociodemographic variables do not seem to play a major role in the occurrence of parasomnias.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

The power of friendship: protection against an escalating cycle of peer victimization.

This study examined 2 aspects of friendship (presence and perceived qualities of a best friend) as moderators of behavioral antecedents and outcomes of peer victimization. A total of 393 children (188 boys and 205 girls) in the 4th and 5th grades (mean age = 10 years 7 months) participated during each of 2 waves of data collection in this 1-year longitudinal study. Results indicated that teacher-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors predicted increases in peer-reported victimization, but the relation of internalizing behaviors to increases in victimization was attenuated for children with a protective friendship. Victimization predicted increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors but only for children without a mutual best friendship. Results highlight the importance of peer friendships in preventing an escalating cycle of peer abuse.

Aggression↗

PubMed1999

Early parental separation and the psychosocial development of daughters 6-9 years old.

The relationship of timing of early parental separation to psychosocial development of daughters was examined in 77 girls, 6-9 years of age over a four-year period. Disruptive behavior across contexts was prevalent in girls separated between birth and two years of age. Girls separated between three and five years of age showed more externalizing behavior problems, but only in school. Results suggest that early parental separation has more pervasive and stable negative effects on psychosocial adjustment of girls in this age group in single-parent families. Implications of the findings and directions for research are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1999

Impulsivity predicts problem gambling in low SES adolescent males.

AIMS: This study investigated whether impulsivity measured in 12-14-year-olds could predict problem gambling in late adolescence, above and beyond other personality factors such as aggressiveness and anxiety. DESIGN: A prospective-longitudinal design was used, thus overcoming limitations of past studies which used concurrent or retrospective designs. PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: The sample included 154 boys living in economically deprived neighborhoods. Impulsivity measures comprised self-reports, teacher ratings and laboratory tasks, and were administered during early adolescence. Gambling behavior was assessed at age 17 using a self-report measure. Early gambling behavior and socio-demographic information were also collected for control purposes. FINDINGS: Results revealed that a self-report measure of impulsiveness and a card-sorting task significantly predicted problem gambling, even after controlling for socio-demographic variables, early gambling behavior and other personality variables such as aggressiveness and anxiety. Moreover, the predictive link held across all levels of aggressiveness and anxiety. Both impulsivity measures seemed to tap an inability to foresee negative consequences and an inability to stop responding despite unfavorable contingencies. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that disinhibited individuals with response modulation deficits are at risk for problem gambling, thus supporting the DSM-IV classification of pathological gambling as an impulse control deficit.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Problem drug and alcohol use in a community sample of adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Epidemiological studies of illegal drug use in adolescents have examined frequency of drug use; a few have examined diagnoses or symptoms of drug abuse or dependence. This study examined problem use of illegal drugs, about which very little is known. METHOD: Adolescents (879 boys and 929 girls), mean age of 15.7 years, representative of the province of Québec, Canada, were asked about problem use of alcohol and illegal drugs. RESULTS: Almost one third had used illegal drugs more than 5 times. Of this group, more than 70% reported going to school high on drugs, and the majority reported playing sports while high and using drugs in the morning. In these drugs users, 94% of the boys and 85% of the girls reported at least 1 problem and two thirds of the boys and more than half of the girls reported 3 or more problems from illegal drugs. Marijuana was used by almost all subjects at the time of maximal drug use; hallucinogens were the second most commonly used drug. Alcohol was used more frequently than illegal drugs, but problem use was less common. CONCLUSIONS: Problem drug use is the norm among the large minority who use illegal drugs more than a few times, and drug use is commonly incorporated into 2 major routine activities of teenagers--school and sports.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

[Alcoholic father, adolescent drug abuse and protective factors].

OBJECTIVES: To compare the children of alcoholic fathers who do not develop alcohol or drug problems in adolescence (that is, resilient children) to those who do, focusing on characteristics of personality and family. Various behavioural traits are examined as resilience factors, as are certain educational practices of the parents. METHOD: Resilience factors were studied throughout childhood, from age 6 to 12 years. The presence or absence of alcohol or drug problems was assessed at the age of 15 or 16 years. RESULTS: Close to 1000 children of both sexes participated in the study. As expected, paternal alcoholism was an important risk factor in the development of substance abuse problems in adolescence. The risk, however, diminishes with personality traits such as low thrill-seeking behaviour and a propensity for inhibition. These traits cannot be considered resilience factors, however, because their effect is as present in children of nonalcoholic fathers as in children of alcoholic fathers. Parental supervision proves to be a protective influence and was found to reduce the risk of substance abuse in children of alcoholic fathers. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that, above and beyond personality variables, the presence of an alcoholic father constitutes a high risk factor for adolescent drug addiction. Nevertheless, parental supervision may attenuate this risk and is therefore an important means of intervention.

Adolescent↗