Hostname: page-component-599cfd5f84-d4snv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-07T08:22:23.748Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Concurrent changes in conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescents: A developmental person-centered approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Rusan Chen  and
Bruce Simons-Morton
Rusan Chen*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University
Bruce Simons-Morton
Affiliation:
National Institutes of Health
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Rusan Chen, Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship, 3520 Prospect Street, NW #314, Georgetown University, Washington DC 20057; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The co-occurrence of conduct problems (CP) and depressive symptoms (DS) is an important topic in developmental psychopathology; however, research in this area is still in its early stages. Using data from a school-based longitudinal sample of 2,453 adolescents with five waves from Grade 6 to 9, we examined the prevalence, etiology, and consequences of the co-occurrence of CP and DS. A person-centered approach, general growth mixture modeling, was applied to obtain CP and DS trajectory groups. The risk factors and consequences of the co-occurrence problem were examined using the trajectory groups. As hypothesized in a nonclinical sample, a small proportion of boys (8.8%) and girls (3.7%) reported to be high in both CP and DS over time. Among the adolescents with the highest level of CP, only 6.3% of the boys and 6.0% of the girls experienced the highest level of DS. However, among those with the highest level of DS trajectories, 42.9% of the boys and 10.2% of the girls reported the highest level of CP, indicating a gender-specific risk of the co-occurrence problem for depressed boys. Psychosocial and family factors were identified as vulnerable precursors to co-occurring CP and DS, a finding in line with the multiple domain risk model for CP and the transactional model for DS. The study also found that adolescents with the co-occurrence problem were more similar to those with “pure DS” than those with “pure CP” in academic adjustment at the ninth grade.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 285 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, J. P., Porter, M. R., & McFarland, F. C. (2006). Leaders and followers in adolescent close friendships: Susceptibility to peer influence as a predictor of risky behavior, friendship instability, and depression. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 155–172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergman, L. R., & Magnusson, D. (1997). A person-oriented approach in research on developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 291–319.Google Scholar
Beyers, J. M., & Loeber, R. (2003). Untangling developmental relations between depressed mood and delinquency in male adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 247–266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bollen, K. A., & Curran, P. J. (2006). Latent curve models: A structural equation perspective. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Capaldi, D. M. (1991). Co-occurrence of conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescent boys: I. Familial factors and general adjustment at grade 6. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 277–300.Google Scholar
Capaldi, D. M. (1992). Co-occurrence of conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescent boys: II. A 2-year follow-up at grade 8. Development and Psychopathology, 4, 125–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capaldi, D. M., & Stoolmiller, M. (1999). Co-occurrence of conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescent boys: III. Prediction to young-adult adjustment. Development and Psychopathology 11, 59–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., & Toth, S. L. (1998). Maternal depressive disorder and contextual risk: Contributions to the development of attachment insecurity and behavior problems in toddlerhood. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 283–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 53, 221–241.Google Scholar
Cole, D. A., Martin, J. M., Peeke, L. A., Seroczynski, A. D., & Fier, J. (1999). Children's over- and underestimation of academic competence: A longitudinal study of gender differences, depression, and anxiety. Child Development, 70, 459–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Compton, K., Snyder, J., Schrepferman, L., Bank, L., & Shortt, J. W. (2003). The contribution of parents and siblings to antisocial and depressive behavior in adolescents: A double jeopardy coercion model. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 163–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crockett, L. J., Moilanen, K. L., Raffaelli, M., & Randell, B. A. (2006). Psychological profiles and adolescent adjustment: A person-centered approach. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 195–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curran, P. J. (2000). A latent curve framework for the study of developmental trajectories in adolescent substance use. In Rose, J. S. (Ed.), Multivariate applications in substance use research: New methods for new questions (pp. 1–42). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Formoso, D., Gonzales, N. A., & Aiken, L. (2000). Family conflict and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior: Protective factors. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 175–199.Google Scholar
Ge, X., Natsuaki, M. N., & Conger, R. D. (2006). Trajectories of depressive symptoms and stressful life events among male and female adolescents in divorced and nondivorced families. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 253–273.Google Scholar
Greenberg, M. T., Speltz, M. L., DeKlyen, M., & Jones, K. (2001). Correlates of clinic referral for early conduct problems: Variable- and person-oriented approaches. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 255–276.Google Scholar
Gutman, L. M., & Sameroff, A. J. (2004). Continuities in depression from adolescence to young adulthood: Contrasting ecological influences. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 967–984.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: Emerging gender difference in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 128–140.Google Scholar
Harrington, R., Rutter, M., & Fombonne, E. (1996). Developmental pathways in depression: Multiple meanings, antecedents, and endpoints. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 601–616.Google Scholar
Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scales for children. Child Development, 53, 87–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollenstein, T., Granic, I., Stoolmiller, M., & Snyder, J. (2004). Rigidity in parent–child interactions and the development of externalizing and internalizing behavior in early childhood. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 595–607.Google Scholar
Keller, T. E., Spieker, S. L., & Gilchrist, L. (2005). Patterns of risk and trajectories of preschool problem behaviors: A person-oriented analysis of attachment in context. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 349–384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Stevens, K. I., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (2006). Developmental trajectories of externalizing and internalizing behaviors: Factors underlying resilience in physically abused children. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 35–55.Google Scholar
Little, R. J. & Rubin, D. B. (2002). Statistical analysis with missing data (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marmorstein, N. R., & Iacono, W.G. (2003). Major depression and conduct disorder in a twin sample: Gender, functioning, and risk for future psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 225–233.Google Scholar
McDonald, R. P. & Ho, M. (2002). Principles and practice in reporting structural equation analysis. Psychological Methods, 7, 64–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A. C., Rutter, M., & Silva, P.A. (2001). Sex difference in antisocial behavior: Conduct disorder, delinquency and violence in the Dunedin longitudinal study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muthén, B. (2004). Latent variable analysis: Growth mixture modeling and related techniques for longitudinal data. In Kaplan, D. (Ed.), Handbook of quantitative methodology for the social sciences (pp. 345–368). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Muthén, B., & Curran, P. J. (1997). General longitudinal modeling of individual differences in experimental designs: A latent variable framework for analysis and power estimation. Psychological Methods, 2, 371–402.Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2004). MPlus user's guide (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Nagin, D. S., & Tremblay, R. E. (2001). Analyzing developmental trajectory of distinct but related behaviors: A group-based method. Psychological Methods, 6, 18–34.Google Scholar
Robin, A. L., & Foster, S. L. (1989). Negotiating parent–adolescent conflict: A behavioral–family systems approach. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ruchkin, V., Sukhodolsky, D. G., Vermeiren, R., Koposov, R. A., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2006). Depressive symptoms and associated psychopathology in urban adolescents: A cross-cultural study of three countries. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194, 106–113.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1989). Isle of Wight revisited: Twenty-five years of child psychiatric epidemiology. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 633–653.Google Scholar
Simons-Morton, B. G., Haynie, D., Crump, A. D., Eitel, P., Saylor, K., & Yu, K. (1999). Expectancies and other psychosocial factors associated with alcohol use among early adolescent boys and girls. Addictive Behaviors, 24, 229–238.Google Scholar
Simons-Morton, B. G., Haynie, D., Saylor, K., Crump, A. D., & Chen, R. (2005). The effects of the going places program on early adolescent substance use and antisocial behavior. Prevention Science, 6, 187–197.Google Scholar
Snyder, J., Schrepferman, L., Oeser, J., Patterson, G., Stoolmiller, M., Johnson, K., et al. (2005). Deviancy training and association with deviant peers in young children: Occurrence and contribution to early-onset conduct problems. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 397– 413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weinberger, D. A. (1991). Social–emotional adjustment in older children and adults: Psychometric properties of the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory. Unpublished manuscript, Case Western Reserve University.Google Scholar
Weiss, R. E. (2005). Modeling longitudinal data. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Wiesner, M., Kim, H. K., & Capaldi, D. M. (2005). Developmental trajectories of offending: Validation and prediction to young adult alcohol use, drug use, and depressive symptoms. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 251–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed