Three alternative models concerning the causal links between early disruptive behavior, poor school achievement, and delinquent behavior or antisocial personality were tested with linear structural equation modeling. Subjects were boys and girls followed from first grade to age 14. Disruptive behavior was assessed in Grade 1; school achievement was assessed in Grades 1 and 4; delinquent behavior and antisocial personality were assessed at age 14. With regard to self-reported delinquent behavior at age 14, results indicate that the best model for boys was a direct causal link between Grade 1 disruptive behavior and delinquent behavior. Poor school achievement was not a necessary causal factor. For girls, none of the tested models were a good fit to the delinquent behavior data. As for delinquent personality, results indicate that, for both boys and girls, poor school achievement was a necessary component of the causal path between Grade 1 disruptive behavior and age 14 delinquent personality.

Intergenerational transfer of risk between mothers and children, based on mothers' childhood aggression and social withdrawal, was examined in an inner-city sample. Each of the 3 studies reported involved a subset of the 909 female participants in the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, initiated when the participants were of school age. Using medical records, Study 1 (n = 853) focused on prediction of teen motherhood, delivery complications during childbirth, multiparity, and close spacing of births. Study 2 (n = 428) examined pathways to school dropout and teen parenthood. Study 3 (n = 89) involved prediction of observed parent and child behavior from mothers' childhood characteristics. Mothers' childhood aggression was consistently predictive of negative outcomes in each area of intergenerational risk, especially when combined with social withdrawal and low levels of academic achievement. Education was protective: Mothers' years of schooling predicted positive outcomes.

Research examining cortisol dysregulation is seemingly contradictory with studies showing that both internalizing and externalizing behaviors are related to high and low cortisol. One extant theory to explain divergent findings in the stress literature is that both hypo-and hyper-arousal of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may be present depending on time since onset of the stressor. This theory may extend to the onset of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Data from 96 youth participating in a longitudinal project were used to examine this possibility. Composite measures of internalizing and externalizing behaviors at both childhood and early adolescence were formed using mother and teacher reports. Multiple salivary cortisol samples were also collected over two consecutive days during early adolescence. Problematic behaviors were associated with cortisol and the direction of the association was dependent on amount of time passed since onset of the behaviors. When examined concurrently in adolescence, youth with more internalizing behaviors had higher morning cortisol; however, when examined longitudinally, youth with more internalizing behaviors in childhood had lower morning cortisol levels as adolescents. Youth with more externalizing behaviors in childhood had flattened diurnal cortisol rhythms as adolescents, and this finding persisted when examined in adolescence. Cortisol dysregulation was greatest in children with the most severe behavior problems. Findings support the theoretical model of blunting of the HPA axis over time. While the HPA axis may show hyperarousal when youth first display behaviors, long-term exposure may lead to a hypo-arousal of the HPA axis which culminates in a dysregulated diurnal rhythm.Keywords diurnal cortisol; internalizing behavior; externalizing behavior; blunted; hierarchical linear modeling Behavior problems are often debilitating with profound social, emotional, and psychological ramifications. Children who exhibit problematic behaviors often perform more poorly at school (Ansary and Luther, 2009;Aunola at al., 2000), are more socially rejected by their peers (Hymel et al., 1990;Pederson et al., 2007), have more strained relationships with their parents and siblings (Richmond and Stocker, 2006), and lower self-esteem (Aunola et al.,

The effects of a stressful challenge on the processing of emotional words were examined in college students. Stress induction was achieved using a competitive computer task, where the individual either repeatedly lost or won against a confederate. Mood, attention, and cortisol were recorded during the study. There were four findings: (1) Participants in the negative stressor condition were faster to shift attention away from negative words than positive or neutral words; (2) attentional shifts away from negative words were associated with stress-induced mood lowering; (3) participants in the negative stress condition with elevated scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were slow to disengage attention from all stimuli; and (4) elevated depression scores were associated with lower cortisol change from baseline during the experimental phase, and with higher cortisol levels during the recovery phase. These findings point to information-processing strategies as a means to regulate emotion, and to atypical features of cognitive and adrenocortical function that may serve as putative risk markers of depression.

This study examined the effects of abilities as a young adult, an engaged lifestyle, personality, age, and health on continuity and change in intellectual abilities from early to late adulthood. A battery of measures, including a verbal and nonverbal intelligence test, was given to 326 Canadian army veterans. Archival data provided World War Two enlistment scores on the same intelligence test for this sample: Results indicated relative stability of intellectual scores across 40 years, with increases in vocabulary and decreases in arithmetic, verbal analogies, and nonverbal skills. Young adult intelligence was the most important determinant of older adult performance. Predictors for verbal intelligence were consistent with an engagement model of intellectual maintenance but also indicated the importance of introversion-extraversion and age. Nonverbal intelligence in late life was predicted by young adult nonverbal scores, age, health, and introversion-extraversion.