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Biomedical subjects

F Vitaro

Publications and source records attributed to F Vitaro.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
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↗
PubMed1999

Effects of poverty on academic failure and delinquency in boys: a change and process model approach.

Using data from the Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study, we examined the impact of poverty (and its correlate, family configuration status) on academic placement and self-reported delinquency in boys at age 16. We then investigated whether the relation between family economic hardship and antisocial behaviour is direct or indirect by considering the value of parenting practices and academic failure as process variables in the model. Data included official records, and parent, teacher, and self-reports. The temporal intensity of poverty was classified into five categories: never-poor; always-poor; poor-earlier; poor-later; and transitory-poverty. Family configuration status was classified by both temporal characteristics and number of marital transitions: intact-family; short-term-single; long-term-single; short-term-remarried; long-term-remarried; and multiple-marital-transitions. Results revealed that when maternal education and early childhood behaviour were controlled, poverty had an effect on both academic failure and extreme delinquency. This effect was independent of family configuration status. Although they both significantly predicted extreme delinquency on their own, academic failure and parental supervision did not mediate the relationship between poverty and delinquency. Divorce increased the risk of theft and fighting at age 16, regardless of financial hardship. Parental supervision only helped explain the effects of divorce on boys' fighting.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Paternal alcoholism, paternal absence and the development of problem behaviors in boys from age six to twelve years.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between paternal alcoholism, paternal absence, and the development and stability of behavioral problems in boys, from kindergarten to the end of elementary school. METHOD: A sample of 642 boys originating from low socioeconomic status (SES) families was used. Paternal alcoholism was established using the Short Michigan Alcohol Screening Test. Behavioral problems (opposition, hyperactivity, inattention, physical aggression and anxiety) were assessed by teachers' reports when the boys were 6 and 12 years old. Four groups of boys were created on the basis of paternal alcoholism (nonalcoholic, alcoholic) and family structure (intact families, nonintact/father-absent families). RESULTS: Consistent with personality theories of alcoholism, results showed that a propensity for physical aggression and low anxiety best distinguished sons of male alcoholics (SOMAs) from non-SOMAs at both ages (6 and 12 years), even when SES was controlled. In addition, SOMAs were more oppositional and hyperactive than non-SOMAs at both ages. No significant effects were observed for family structure or age, or an interaction between these factors and paternal alcoholism in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that problem behaviors in SOMAs begin early and persist over time, and that paternal alcoholism and family structure are not associated with changes in boys' behaviors between kindergarten and the end of elementary school in this population, at least in the sample used.

Aggression↗
PubMed1998

The impact of family transition on the development of delinquency in adolescent boys: a 9-year longitudinal study.

The purpose of this study was to examine prospectively the impact of family transition on deviant development in a sample of 427 French-Canadian boys participating in a longitudinal study from kindergarten onwards. During the course of the study some boys experienced family transition. We grouped the boys by developmental period and number of marital transitions they experienced: divorced between ages 6 and 11; divorced between ages 12 to 15; remarried between ages 6 and 11; and remarried between ages 12 and 15. From ages 11 to 15 we assessed boys' delinquency and their family processes (parental supervision, punishment, and communication) annually. The results suggest that boys who experienced remarriage between ages 12 and 15 are at greater risk for delinquency. In particular, they showed evidence of comparatively more theft and fighting at earlier ages than their peers from families that had remained intact. At similar points in development, they perceived less expressive parent-child relationships. Finally, these boys also perceived less monitoring by their parents, both overall and at different points in adolescence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Reactive and proactive aggression differentially predict later conduct problems.

This study tested whether proactive and reactive aggression were differently predictive of later externalizing problems such as delinquency and DSM-related disruptive behaviors (i.e. oppositional defiant and conduct disorders). It also tested whether these two subtypes of aggressive behaviors interacted in predicting externalizing problems. A community sample of low SES boys participated in the study. Proactive and reactive aggression were rated by teachers when boys were 12 years old. Delinquency, oppositional disorders, and conduct disorders were assessed during mid-adolescence. Proactive but not reactive aggression predicted delinquency and disruptive behaviors. Moreover, high levels of reactive aggression weakened the link between proactive aggression and delinquency. Reactive aggression, however, did not moderate the link between proactive aggression and disruptive behaviors. We conclude that reactive and proactive aggression are two types of aggressive behaviors with different predictive abilities. We also offer tentative explanations to account for the present findings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Boys' behavioral inhibition and the risk of later delinquency.

BACKGROUND: In some studies, shyness and anxiety have protected at-risk boys from developing delinquency. In others, shyness and withdrawal have increased risk. We argue that this is because behavioral inhibition, which is the protective factor, has been confounded with social withdrawal and other constructs. Our study addresses 3 major questions: (1) is behavioral inhibition, as distinguished from social withdrawal, a protective factor in the development of delinquency; (2) does the protective effect depend on whether disruptiveness is also present; and (3) does inhibition increase the risk of later depressive symptoms even if it protects against delinquency? METHODS: The subjects were boys from low socioeconomic status areas of Montreal, Quebec. Age 10- to 12-year predictors were peer-rated inhibition, withdrawal, and disruptiveness; age 13- to 15-year outcomes were self-rated depressive symptoms and delinquency. Eight age 10- to 12-year behavioral profiles were compared with 4 age 13- to 15-year outcome profiles. RESULTS: Inhibition seemed to protect disruptive and nondisruptive boys against delinquency. Disruptive boys who were noninhibited were more likely than chance to become delinquent; disruptive boys who were inhibited were not. Inhibition did not increase the risk for depression among disruptive boys. Among nondisruptive boys, only nondisruptive-inhibited boys were significantly less likely than chance to become delinquent. However, withdrawal was not protective. Disruptive-withdrawn boys were at the greatest risk for delinquency or delinquency with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Inhibition and social withdrawal, although behaviorally similar, present different risks for later outcomes and, therefore, should be differentiated conceptually and empirically.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Behavioural development in children of divorce and remarriage.

We employed an autoregressive modelling technique with data from the Québec Longitudinal Study to prospectively examine the developmental impact of family transition on behaviour while controlling for predivorce and preremarriage effects. Teachers rated children's anxious, hyperactive, physically aggressive, oppositional, and prosocial behaviour every 2 years from kindergarten through to the end of elementary school. Once individual and parental characteristics and antecedent family events were controlled, children who experienced parental divorce before age 6 exhibited comparatively more behavioural disturbance than their peers whose parents divorced later. With the exception of a protective effect on hyperactive behaviour, remarriage did not have a significant impact on children's behaviour when the legacy of divorce was controlled. Although the results suggest that children of divorced parents show difficulty in many areas of functioning, the effects of family transition on behavioural development were dependent on the child's age and the specific behavioural dimension assessed. Compared to other points in development, early childhood divorce was associated with long-term increases in anxious, hyperactive, and oppositional behaviour during later childhood. The effects of divorce on children's fighting were short-lived. Unlike previous prospective studies that suggest predivorce effects, we did not observe behavioural disturbance prior to divorce or remarriage.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1997

Dispositional predictors of problem gambling in male adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the possible relationship between impulsivity in early adolescence and gambler status in late adolescence. METHOD: Impulsivity measures consisting of self-reports and teacher ratings were gathered from 754 boys in early adolescence, and their gambling status in late adolescence was assessed with a self-report measure. RESULTS: On both measures of impulsivity, nongamblers had the lowest scores, recreational gamblers had the next higher scores, low problem gamblers had still higher scores, and high problem gamblers had the highest scores. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the DSM-IV classification of problem gambling as a deficit in impulse control.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Disruptiveness, friends' characteristics, and delinquency in early adolescence: a test of two competing models of development.

This study tested 2 competing models of friends' influence on the development of delinquency in disruptive boys. In so doing, we examined whether highly disruptive, moderately disruptive, moderately conforming, and highly conforming boys' delinquency increased or decreased depending on their friends' characteristics. A sample of 868 boys was classified into the 4 groups according to teacher ratings at ages 11 and 12. Each group was then subdivided by mutual friends' peer-rated aggressiveness-disturbance at the same ages: aggressive-disturbing friends, average friends, nonaggressive-nondisturbing friends, and no friends. Subgroups were next compared on self-reported delinquency at age 13 while controlling for average self-reported delinquency and socioeconomic variables at ages 11 and 12. Results indicate that moderately disruptive boys with aggressive-disturbing friends were more delinquent at age 13 than other subgroups of moderately disruptive boys. Highly disruptive and conforming boys, however, were unaffected by their friends' characteristics. We conclude that the results partially support each theoretical model, suggesting that both individual characteristics and deviant peer association might play causal roles.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Personal and familial characteristics of resilient sons of male alcoholics.

This study compared sons of male alcoholics (SOMAs) who had no problems with those who were abusing substances, those who had school problems, those who were delinquent and those who were multiproblem. Corresponding groups of non-SOMAs were also included. Groups were compared at ages 6, 10, 12 and 14 years on teacher- and peer-rated aggressiveness, hyperactivity, inattention, anxiety and prosociality; parent-rated temperament; parents' disciplinary practices; school performance; family socio-economic status; self-reported substance (ab)use and delinquency; and school performance (from school records). Differences between SOMAs and non-SOMAs were small. According to teachers and peers, no problem SOMAs and non-SOMAs were less aggressive-oppositional, inattentive and hyperactive than problem SOMAs and non-SOMAs. These effects differed as a function of age, however. Also, no problem SOMAs and non-SOMAs performed better in school than boys in the problem groups. We discuss the relevance of these findings for identifying factors that render children resilient and for early screening to select truly at risk SOMAs for prevention programs.

Achievement↗
PubMed1996

DSM-III-R and DSM-III criteria for conduct disorder in preadolescent girls: specific but insensitive.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether DSM-III and DSM-III-R criteria for conduct disorder identify girls in the general population with early-onset, persistent, and pervasive antisocial behavior. METHOD: 2,251 girls, representative of all girls entering kindergarten in Qúebec, were assessed using parent and teacher ratings of antisocial behavior; a subsample was then rated for the next 6 years (ages 7 to 12) by parent and teacher. At age 10 years, the girls who been rated as antisocial in kindergarten, along with a random sample of those not rated as antisocial, were assessed for DSM-III and DSM-III-R diagnoses of conduct and oppositional defiant disorder using a structured psychiatric interview (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children) administered to the parent, teacher, and/or child (n = 381). RESULTS: Of the girls with early-onset, persistent, and pervasive antisocial behavior, 3% met DSM-III-R criteria and 22% met DSM-III criteria for conduct disorder. Conduct disorder was not diagnosed at all in girls who had not been initially rated as antisocial in kindergarten. Lowering the threshold for a DSM-III-R conduct disorder diagnosis to two symptoms and adding the criterion of violation of rules increased the rate of diagnosis to 35% in the pervasively antisocial girls but only to 1% in girls who did not have persistent antisocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: DSM-III-R criteria for conduct disorder do not identify most preadolescent girls with early-onset, pervasive, and persistent antisocial behavior. Modifications to the DSM-III-R criteria resulted in increased sensitivity without a loss of specificity.

Age of Onset↗
PubMed1995

Kindergarten predictors of boys' stable behavior problems at the end of elementary school.

This study predicted stable social maladjustments of ages 10, 11, and 12 from teacher behavioral ratings in kindergarten and a measure of family demographics. Kindergarten teachers rated 1,034 boys on hyperactivity, aggression, inattention, anxiety-withdrawal, and prosocial behavior. Sociodemographic information was collected from the parents. At ages 10, 11, and 12, teacher, parent, peer, and self-report behavior ratings were collected on 743 boys. School achievement was documented from school records. Boys whose average scores on each of the five behavioral ratings across ages 10, 11, and 12 were above the 90th percentile according to at least two informants were defined as having stable behavioral problems. From teacher ratings collected in kindergarten and family demographics, logistic regression analyses predicted stable social maladjustment. For each negative outcome there was a unique set of predictors. The results are discussed with reference to the early identification of children who are at risk.

Achievement↗
PubMed1995

A bimodal preventive intervention for disruptive kindergarten boys: its impact through mid-adolescence.

Disruptive kindergarten boys from inner-city low socioeconomic neighborhood schools were randomly allocated to a preventive intervention and control condition. The 2-year prevention program included a home-based parent training component and a school-based social skills training component. Participants were followed up to mid-adolescence. Results indicated that a significantly greater percentage of treated boys remained in an age-appropriate regular classroom up to the end of elementary school and that the treated boys reported significantly less delinquent behaviors at yearly assessments from 10 to 15 years old, compared with controls. The preventive intervention appeared to have a significant long-term impact on the social development of the disruptive kindergarten boys. Earlier and more intensive intervention may be necessary for some cases, whereas for all disruptive boys, booster sessions between 12 and 15 years of age are recommended.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Teacher ratings of children's behaviors and teachers' management styles: a research note.

The purpose of this study was to explore how changes in teacher ratings of children's behavior problems from kindergarten to first grade might vary with teachers' styles of managing behavior problems. Familial and socioeconomical variables were controlled because of their potential modulating effects. Subjects were from a community sample of 1,573 boys and girls rated by teachers, mothers and peers (for one part of the sample) on aggressiveness-hyperactivity, anxiety-withdrawal and social skills deficits. Teacher ratings of aggressive-hyperactive behaviors significantly changed from kindergarten to grade one when the teachers had different management styles. Mother and peer ratings, however, did not change. The importance of considering teachers' management styles when assessing behavior problems in school is stressed.

Aggression↗
PubMed1995

Individual and peer characteristics in predicting boys' early onset of substance abuse: a seven-year longitudinal study.

Early onset of substance abuse is a clear marker for future maladjustment in adolescents. The present study employed data originating from 755 6-year-old boys from low SES neighborhoods, who were followed through age 13, to predict this marker, 3 models were tested using LISREL analyses to determine whether individual characteristics and/or peer influences were linked to subsequent substance abuse. Individual characteristics consisted of fighting, hyperactivity, oppositional behaviors, and likability. Peer influences referred to mutual friends' characteristics (aggressiveness and likability). Data were obtained from 3 different sources: teacher ratings, peer ratings, and self-reports. Results were replicated at ages 10, 11, and 12 years with 3 subsamples of the original sample and indicated that individual characteristics, more than friends' deviance, are pivotal in the development of substance abuse. This finding is consistent with results from other longitudinal studies involving children from a variety of cultural backgrounds. It suggests that prevention programs should target individual characteristics and begin at an early age.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Predicting early onset of male antisocial behavior from preschool behavior.

METHODS: Data from a large longitudinal study of boys who were between kindergarten and age 13 years were used to (1) test whether Gray's and Cloninger's personality dimensions measured in kindergarten predicted the early onset of stable, highly delinquent behavior; (2) test whether 1, 2, or 3 dimensions were needed; and (3) test the predictive value of a categorical approach. RESULTS: The impulsivity dimension was the best predictor of the early onset of stable, highly delinquent behavior. Anxiety and reward dependence made significant but weaker contributions. The categorical approach corroborated Cloninger's suggestion that boys who are high in impulsivity, low in anxiety, and low in reward dependence would be more at risk for delinquent involvement. Boys who were high in impulsivity and low in anxiety but high in reward dependence were much less at risk for delinquency. Differences in antisocial behavior among extreme kindergarten personality groups were stable from ages 11 to 13 years. CONCLUSIONS: The behavioral activating system appears to be the major dimension underlying the propensity toward early onset of antisocial behavior, but both the behavioral inhibition system and the need for social rewards play important roles. The behavioral style (personality) that results from the interplay of these systems is clearly in place by the kindergarten year. Preventive efforts should target preschool children with at-risk behavior profiles. However, longitudinal-experimental studies with at least yearly assessments between birth and school-entry age are needed to understand the extent to which the behavioral styles are antecedent to preschool disruptive behavior disorders.

Adolescent↗