This Annotation highlights recent research on the role of peer group and friendship factors in the development of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Several processes are considered, including peer rejection (e.g., exclusion and victimization), social withdrawal and avoidance of peer interaction, and the socialization of deviant behavior and internalizing problems. The mediating influences of several proximal components are examined, including cognitive-perceptual factors and emotion regulation. In addition, the moderating influences of close friendship, age, gender, ethnicity, and group norms are considered. Several promising avenues for future directions in research are highlighted, including the examination of heterogeneity in developmental processes, further investigation of gender-based norms, and the application of multi-level modeling techniques and gene-environment process models.

The present study investigated longitudinal pathways from specific early preschool behavioral problems (ages 2–3 years) to internalizing and externalizing problems in preadolescence (ages 10–11 years), and the role of social problems at school entry (ages 4–5 years) in such pathways. Path analyses were performed using both parent and teacher reports in a sample of 251 to 346 children from the general population, depending on the availability of parent and teacher data at each time of assessment. Structural equation modeling revealed homotypic internalizing and externalizing pathways, predictions from early preschool externalizing problems to later internalizing problems, and negative predictive paths from early internalizing problems to externalizing problems in preadolescence. Cross-informant predictions spanning 8 years were found between parent-reported aggression and overactivity at ages 2–3 years and teacher-reported externalizing problems at ages 10–11 years. Further, results showed that boys' pathways were more complex and showed greater predictive validity than pathways for girls, and that social problems at school entry played a significant role in pathways to internalizing problems, but only for boys. The results are discussed from a developmental psychopathology perspective.

This study investigated the association between reading disability (RD) and internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in a large community sample of twins with (N = 209) and without RD (N = 192). The primary goals were to clarify the relation between RD and comorbid psychopathology, to test for gender differences in the behavioral correlates of RD, and to test if common familial influences contributed to the association between RD and other disorders. Results indicated that individuals with RD exhibited significantly higher rates of all internalizing and externalizing disorders than individuals without RD. However, logistic regression analyses indicated that RD was not significantly associated with symptoms of aggression, delinquency, oppositional defiant disorder, or conduct disorder after controlling for the significant relation between RD and ADHD. In contrast, relations between RD and symptoms of anxiety and depression remained significant even after controlling for comorbid ADHD, suggesting that internalizing difficulties may be specifically associated with RD. Analyses of gender differences indicated that the significant relation between RD and internalizing symptoms was largely restricted to girls, whereas the association between RD and externalizing psychopathology was stronger for boys. Finally, preliminary etiological analyses suggested that common familial factors predispose both probands with RD and their non-RD siblings to exhibit externalizing behaviors, whereas elevations of internalizing symptomatology are restricted to individuals with RD.

Expressed Emotion (EE), a measure of the emotional climate of the family, predicts subsequent adjustment of adults with mental disorder (Leff & Vaughn, 1985). Despite the acknowledged importance of the family in childhood disorders, there have been relatively few studies of expressed emotion with adolescents and school-aged children and virtually none focused on preschoolers. The present study utilized the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) to examine how Expressed Emotion relates concurrently and longitudinally to child problem status in a community sample of 112 preschool-aged children. At preschool, the proportion of high EE increased significantly across three child groups: Comparison (8.1%), Borderline Problem (15.8%), and High Problem (41.2%); however, preschool EE was not predictive of subsequent child status at 1st grade. Expanded FMSS codes, tapping positive affect and worry about the child, were also related to child problem group at preschool and were predictive of subsequent child status at 1st grade. Because parents' stress and adjustment were also highly related to child problem group status, we examined whether the FMSS codes were essentially a proxy for these or whether they explained unique variance. In two stepwise regressions on preschool child group status (divided by total problems and by externalizing problems), maternal stress was the only variable to enter. Also, in predicting to 1st grade externalizing child group status, only maternal stress entered. Discussion focused on the extension of the EE construct and other FMSS coding to young children, and the need to recognize that to some extent these variables may reflect maternal stress and adjustment.

We explored the utility of the Expressed Emotion (EE) construct with a community sample of young children (N = 91), studying the stability of EE scores over a 2-year period and the extent to which EE was associated with simultaneous and subsequent disruptive behavior. As part of a longitudinal study, families were assessed when the child was in preschool, 1st grade, and 3rd grade. Maternal EE was measured at preschool and 1st grade using the Five Minute Speech Sample and behavior ratings were obtained using the Child Behavior Checklist. At 3rd grade, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children was used to determine DSM-IV diagnoses. The stability of the EE rating over the 2-year period from preschool to 1st grade was statistically significant although modest. At 1st grade, EE ratings were significantly related to the extent of externalizing behavior problems. Regression analyses that controlled for maternal stress levels determined that preschool EE ratings predicted classification of ADHD over 4 years later, at 3rd grade. The relationships between EE and child problem behavior were almost exclusively determined by the EE criticism dimension; the emotional overinvolvement dimension was not related to child behavior. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether types of discourse deficits were associated differentially with psychiatric disorders (PD) and with language impairments (LI) in children. Discourse analyses examining the occurrence of different types of discourse deficits in language structure, information structure, and flow of information were performed on the spoken narratives of 111 children aged 7 to 12 years who comprised 4 groups: (1) psychiatrically referred children with LI (PD+LI), (2) psychiatrically referred children with normally developing language (PD), (3) nonreferred children with language impairments (LI), and (4) nonreferred children with normally developing language (controls). Discourse deficits in language and information structure characterized children with LI, whereas disruptions in the flow of discourse characterized children with PD. Children with the comorbid condition exhibited deficits associated with both LI and PD; in addition, they displayed distinct deficits related to pronominal reference and causal cohesion. The findings provide a preliminary understanding of the associations among language, discourse, and psychopathology in children.

The Quebec Child Mental Health Survey (QCMHS) was conducted in 1992 on a representative sample of 2400 children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years from throughout Quebec. Prevalences of nine Axis-I DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) mental health disorders were calculated based on each informant (for 6–11-year-olds: child, parent, and teacher; for 12–14-year-olds: child and parent). Informant parallelism allows the classification of results of the demographic variables associated with disorders in the logistic regression models. This strategy applies to group variables (correlates of disorders) whereas informant agreement applies to individual diagnoses. Informant parallelism implies that results for two informants or more are in the same direction and significant. In the QCMHS, informant parallelism exists for disruptive disorders, i.e. in two ADHD regression models (child and parent) higher rates among boys and young children, and in three oppositional/conduct disorders regression models (child, parent, and teacher) higher rates among boys. No informant parallelism is observed in the logistic regression models for internalizing disorders, i.e. the patterns of association of demographic variables with anxiety and depressive disorders vary across informants. Urban-rural residence does not emerge as a significant variable in any of the logistic regression models. The overall 6-month prevalences reach 19.9% according to the parent and 15.8% according to the child. The implications of the results for policy makers and clinicians are discussed.

The relationship of atopic and behavioral symptoms in a community sample of 66 monozygotic and 141 dizygotic twin pairs, ages 4–11 years, was investigated via mother report questionnaires. Within-person correlation between atopic symptoms and Child Behavior Checklist internalizing symptoms (CBCL-INT) was .21 (p<.001) for the total sample. Cross-correlations between atopy and CBCL-INT were .26 for monozygotic and .04 for dizygotic twins. A common and specific factor model applied to the data revealed that the cross-correlation between atopy and CBCL-INT was mainly due to genetic influences (77% of the covariance). This study supports the hypothesis that there is a shared genetic risk for atopy and internalizing symptoms.

This study aims to identify (1) a core disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) postulated to presage a substance use disorder, and (2) the relative importance of parental DBD phenotypes, and familial and nonfamilial environmental factors in the determination of DBD in male children. DBD symptom counts and measures of familial and nonfamilial environmentals were collected from intact families ascertained through the presence (SA+) or absence (SA−) of substance dependence in fathers. Multivariate analyses revealed that both behavioral symptoms and environmental measures were significant discriminators of the families. In SA+ families, the child's score DBD was best predicted by magnitudes of parental dyssocial behaviors and by familial environmental factors. However, in SA− families only familial environmental factors were significant predictors of the child's DBD. These findings suggest that in addition to independent actions of familial transmissible and nonfamilial factors, strong genotype-environment interactions may determine DBD in children and that may contribute to the liability for a substance use disorder.

Abbreviations: ADD: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; ASPD: antisocial personality disorder; CD: conduct disorder; DBD: disruptive behavior disorder; K-SADS-E; author to supply; NCI: Neighborhood Cohesion Index; ODD; oppositional defiant disorder; PSUD: psychoactive substance dependence disorder; SA: substance dependence (+=present, −=absent); SCID: Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R; SUD; substance use disorders.