This study used a three-wave longitudinal design to investigate developmental cascades among social competence and externalizing and internalizing behavioral adjustment in a normative sample of 117 children seen at 4, 10, and 14 years. Children, mothers, and teachers provided data. A series of nested path analysis models was used to determine the most parsimonious and plausible cascades across the three constructs over and above their covariation at each age and stability across age. Children with lower social competence at age 4 years exhibited more externalizing and internalizing behaviors at age 10 years and more externalizing behaviors at age 14 years. Children with lower social competence at age 4 years also exhibited more internalizing behaviors at age 10 years and more internalizing behaviors at age 14 years. Children who exhibited more internalizing behaviors at age 4 years exhibited more internalizing behaviors at age 10 years and more externalizing behaviors at age 14 years. These cascades among social competence and behavioral adjustment obtained independent of child intelligence and maternal education and social desirability of responding.

A developmental cascade model of early emotional and social competence predicting later peer acceptance was examined in a community sample of 440 children across the ages of 2 to 7. Children's externalizing behavior, emotion regulation, social skills within the classroom and peer acceptance were examined utilizing a multitrait–multimethod approach. A series of longitudinal cross-lag models that controlled for shared rater variance were fit using structural equation modeling. Results indicated there was considerable stability in children's externalizing behavior problems and classroom social skills over time. Contrary to expectations, there were no reciprocal influences between externalizing behavior problems and emotion regulation, although higher levels of emotion regulation were associated with decreases in subsequent levels of externalizing behaviors. Finally, children's early social skills also predicted later peer acceptance. Results underscore the complex associations among emotional and social functioning across early childhood.

A three-wave longitudinal study conducted with preadolescent boys and girls (N = 231 at Time 1 [T1]) was used to assess the hypotheses that aspects of social withdrawal would be predictors of a “snowball” cascade of depressed affect, and that friendship experiences would moderate these effects. Consistent with these hypotheses, multilevel modeling showed that measures of avoidance and exclusion at T1 were associated with concurrent levels of depressed affect and were antecedent to escalating trajectories of depressed affect over time. These accelerating growth curves fit a snowball cascade model. The analyses also showed the protective effects of friendship. Specifically, the snowball effect was limited to avoidant and excluded children who were friendless. Depressed affect did not increase among avoidant and excluded children who were friended.

Developmental cascades are links across the life span among heterotypic (qualitatively distinct) variables associated with one or more levels of organization within the ecology of human development. Using data from the longitudinal, 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), we illustrate a developmental systems theory predicated model of cascades in the relations between individuals and contexts that promote positive development among adolescents. Consistent with expectations about the bases of PYD and the role in such development on person and context, ecological resources associated with parenting are linked to individual self-regulatory behaviors that in turn impact PYD, which is then associated with youth community contributions. We discuss the limitations and future directions of this research and the implications of developmental cascades for applications to policies and programs.

Using data from a 6-year longitudinal follow-up sample of 240 youth who participated in a randomized experimental trial of a preventive intervention for divorced families with children ages 9–12, the current study tested alternative cascading pathways by which the intervention decreased symptoms of internalizing disorders, symptoms of externalizing disorders, substance use, and risky sexual behavior and increased self-esteem and academic performance in mid- to late adolescence (15–19 years old). It was hypothesized that the impact of the program on adolescent adaptation outcomes would be explained by progressive associations between program-induced changes in parenting and youth adaptation outcomes. The results supported a cascading model of program effects in which the program was related to increased mother–child relationship quality that was related to subsequent decreases in child internalizing problems, which then was related to subsequent increases in self-esteem and decreases in symptoms of internalizing disorders in adolescence. The results were also consistent with a model in which the program increased maternal effective discipline that was related to decreased child externalizing problems, which was related to subsequent decreases in symptoms of externalizing disorders, less substance use, and better academic performance in adolescence. There were no significant differences in the model based on level of baseline risk or adolescent gender. These results provide support for a cascading pathways model of child and adolescent development.

We examined the developmental processes involved in peer problems among children (M age = 10.41 years) previously diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at study entry (N = 536) and a comparison group (N = 284). Participants were followed over a 6-year period ranging from middle childhood to adolescence. At four assessment periods, measures of aggression, social skills, positive illusory biases (in the social and behavioral domains), and peer rejection were assessed. Results indicated that children from the ADHD group exhibited difficulties in each of these areas at the first assessment. Moreover, there were vicious cycles among problems over time. For example, peer rejection was related to impaired social skills, which in turn predicted later peer rejection. Problems also tended to spill over into other areas, which in turn compromised functioning in additional areas across development, leading to cascading effects over time. The findings held even when controlling for age and were similar for males and females, the ADHD and comparison groups, and among ADHD treatment groups. The results suggest that the peer problems among children with and without ADHD may reflect similar processes; however, children with ADHD exhibit greater difficulties negotiating important developmental tasks. Implications for interventions are discussed.

This study examined the developmental cascade of both genetic and environmental influences on toddlers' behavior problems through the longitudinal and multigenerational assessment of psychosocial risk. We used data from the Early Growth and Development Study, a prospective adoption study, to test the intergenerational transmission of risk through the assessment of adoptive mother, adoptive father, and biological parent depressive symptoms on toddler behavior problems. Given that depression is often chronic, we control for across-time continuity and find that in addition to associations between adoptive mother depressive symptoms and toddler externalizing problems, adoptive father depressive symptoms when the child is 9 months of age were associated with toddler problems and associated with maternal depressive symptoms. Findings also indicated that a genetic effect may indirectly influence toddler problems through prenatal pregnancy risk. These findings help to describe how multiple generations are linked through genetic (biological parent), timing (developmental age of the child), and contextual (marital partner) pathways.

The present study tested a “launch-and-grow” type of cascade model in which an earlier risk factor (e.g., exposure to maternal depression by age 12) was hypothesized to predict several risk processes during development (e.g., stress, family relationships, self-worth [SW]), which then set the course for the growth of children's depressive symptoms over time. Participants were 240 mothers and children (mean age = 11.87 years, SD = 0.57) who were evaluated annually across 6 years. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM diagnoses was used to assess mothers' psychiatric history; 185 mothers had had a mood disorder and 55 mothers were lifetime free of psychiatric diagnoses. At each assessment, mothers completed measures of their current level of depressive symptoms and stressful life events; adolescents completed measures about their perceptions of the family environment and their SW; and clinicians rated adolescents' level of depressive symptoms based on separate interviews with the adolescent and mother. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that history of maternal depression significantly predicted the intercepts of the growth trajectories of adolescents' depressive symptoms, mothers' current depressive symptoms, stressful life events, family environment, and adolescents' SW. The intercepts of each of these variables then predicted the trajectory (i.e., slope) of the growth of adolescents' depressive symptoms across the 6 years of the study. These results were consistent with the hypothesized model of maternal depression launching a set of risk factors, which in turn predict the growth of depressive symptoms during adolescence. Implications for interventions aimed at preventing depression in at-risk youth are discussed.

This longitudinal study used a representative community sample of same-sex twins (485 monozygotic pairs, 271 dizygotic pairs) to study longitudinal changes in genetic and environmental influences on nicotine dependence (NicD) symptoms and major depressive disorder (MDD) symptoms and the longitudinal relationships between NicD and MDD symptoms at three relatively discrete ages spanning middle adolescence to early adulthood (ages 15, 18, and 21). Clinical interviews were used to assess NicD and MDD symptoms lifetime at age 15 and during the previous 3 years at the two subsequent assessments. Biometric models revealed similar patterns of findings for NicD and MDD. Heritability increased with age, particularly between ages 15 and 18. Shared environmental influences were small, and the proportion of variance attributed to shared environmental influences decreased with age. Nonshared environmental influences were moderate to large in magnitude and were entirely age specific. Both NicD and MDD symptoms showed considerable stability from age 15 to 21, and at each age those with one disorder showed elevated rates of the other. However, a cross-lagged model revealed no longitudinal predictive relationships between MDD symptoms and NicD symptoms after accounting for stability of symptoms within disorders. In summary, the transition between middle and late adolescence is a critical period for developmental shifts in the magnitudes of genetic and environmental influences on both MDD and NicD symptoms. Despite similarities in the development of genetic and environmental influences for the two phenotypes, the association between NicD and MDD reflects concurrent covariation rather than one phenotype being an antecedent influence on the subsequent development of the other.

There is growing evidence that many offspring of bipolar parents will develop moderate to severe forms of psychopathology during childhood and adolescence. The purpose of this study was to apply growth curve models to evaluate developmental progression with regard to continuity and cascades representative within the context of a family risk study of bipolar disorder (BD). Repeated assessments of externalizing, internalizing, and thought problems, spanning more than a decade, were examined in a total of 94 offspring of parents with BD (O-BD), major depressive disorder (O-UNI), or no significant psychiatric or medical problems (O-WELL). Continuity was defined by the growth curve of the O-WELL group who exhibited low levels of problems from early childhood through late adolescence. Discontinuity, as evidenced by greater complexity of growth curves relative to the O-WELL group, was exhibited in the at- risk offspring groups for internalizing problems. Different patterns of developmental cascades were supported for the at-risk group with O-UNI showing a robust cascade from self-regulatory deficits (externalizing problems) to internalizing problems. There was also support for a cascade from self-regulatory deficits to thought problems across the entire group (with some support that this pattern was accounted for primarily by O-BD). This study not only serves to advance our understanding of the risks associated with a family history of BD, but also provides a novel approach to examining developmental cascades.

It is argued that personality pathology represents the final emergent product of a complex interaction of underlying neurobehavioral systems as well as environment inputs. A number of factors may be involved in the developmental pathway and a cascading of effects is plausible, although a unifying cascade for all personality disorders is not likely. The present study suggests a possible cascade relevant to one personality disorder: schizoid personality disorder in emerging adulthood. In brief, it is hypothesized that the absence of a relationship characterized by a rich degree of psychological proximal process in early childhood, which is associated with nurturance and the facilitation of more complex development, predicts impairment in the actualization of the affiliation system (i.e., that system that facilitates interpersonal connectedness and social bonds in human beings and is under substantial genetic influence), and this impairment in the affiliation system predicts the appearance of schizoid personality disorder symptoms in emerging adulthood (late teens/early 20s), which persists over time into emerging adulthood. The impairment in the affiliation system is argued to proceed through childhood sociality as reflected in temperament on through adult personality as reflected in communal positive emotion. Furthermore, it is also hypothesized that the relationship between proximal processes and the affiliation system maintains irrespective of other childhood temperament factors that might adversely impact early parent/caregiver and child relations. The data for a preliminary illustration of this possible cascade are drawn from The Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders, which is a prospective, multiwave study of personality disorders, personality, and temperament in a large sample of adults drawn from a nonclinical population.

A developmental cascade model tested associations among child maltreatment, internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, social competence, and cannabis abuse and dependence symptoms in a longitudinal cohort (N = 415). Nested structural equation models evaluated continuity and cross-domain influences among broad multi-informant constructs across four developmental periods: age 7 to 9, 10 to 12, 13 to 15, and 15 to 18. Results indicated significant paths from child maltreatment to early externalizing and internalizing problems and social competence, as well as to cannabis abuse and dependence (CAD) symptoms in adolescence. Youth CAD symptoms were primarily related directly to child maltreatment and externalizing problems. Childhood internalizing symptoms contributed to later childhood decreases in social competence, which predicted increases in late adolescent externalizing problems. Using a developmental psychopathology framework, results are discussed in relation to cascade and transactional effects and the interplay between problem behaviors during childhood and development of CAD symptoms during early and late adolescence.

Using a high-risk community sample (N = 405), the current study examined developmental cascades among substance use, affiliation with substance use promoting peers, and academic achievement over an 18-year period and tested whether these pathways mediated the influence of parental alcoholism on adult alcohol and drug use disorders. Results showed that the influence of parental alcoholism on adult drug disorders was mediated by developmental cascades across all three domains, whereas the influence of parental alcoholism on adult alcohol disorders was mediated through affiliation with substance use promoting peers and persistence in binge drinking. Adolescent drug use had more implications for adult outcomes than did adolescent alcohol use, which was less likely to spill over into other domains of functioning. Findings indicated that adolescent risk factors had indirect rather than unique effects on adult substance use disorders, suggesting that adolescent risk is not immutable and is largely mediated by later influences.

Substance use changes rapidly during late adolescence and early adulthood. This time in the life course is also dense with social role changes, as role changes provide dynamic context for individual developmental change. Using nationally representative, multiwave longitudinal data from age 18 to 28, we examine proximal links between changes in social roles and changes in substance use during the transition to adulthood. We find that changes in family roles, such as marriage, divorce, and parenthood, have clear and consistent associations with changes in substance use. With some notable exceptions, changes in school and work roles have weaker effects on changes in substance use compared to family roles. Changes in socializing (i.e., nights out for fun and recreation) and in religiosity were found to mediate the relationship of social role transitions to substance use. Two time-invariant covariates, socioeconomic background and heavy adolescent substance use, predicted social role status, but did not moderate associations, as within-person links between social roles and substance use were largely equivalent across groups. This paper adds to the cascading effects literature by considering how, within individuals, more proximal variations in school, work, and family roles relate to variations in substance use, and which roles appear to be most influential in precipitating changes in substance use during the transition to adulthood.

Developmental models highlight the impact of early risk factors on both the onset and growth of substance use, yet few studies have systematically examined the indirect effects of risk factors across several domains, and at multiple developmental time points, on trajectories of substance use and adult adjustment outcomes (e.g., educational attainment, mental health problems, criminal behavior). The current study used data from a community epidemiologically defined sample of 678 urban, primarily African American youth, followed from first grade through young adulthood (age 21) to test a developmental cascade model of substance use and young adult adjustment outcomes. Drawing upon transactional developmental theories and using growth mixture modeling procedures, we found evidence for a developmental progression from behavioral risk to adjustment problems in the peer context, culminating in a high-risk trajectory of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use during adolescence. Substance use trajectory membership was associated with adjustment in adulthood. These findings highlight the developmental significance of early individual and interpersonal risk factors on subsequent risk for substance use and, in turn, young adult adjustment outcomes.

Four different sources for cascade effects were examined using 9-year process and outcome data from a randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention using the Parent Management Training—Oregon Model (PMTO™). The social interaction learning model of child antisocial behavior serves as one basis for predicting change. A second source addresses the issue of comorbid relationships among clinical diagnoses. The third source, collateral changes, describes events in which changes in one family member correlate with changes in another. The fourth component is based on the long-term effects of reducing coercion and increasing positive interpersonal processes within the family. New findings from the 9-year follow-up show that mothers experienced benefits as measured by standard of living (i.e., income, occupation, education, and financial stress) and frequency of police arrests. It is assumed that PMTO reduces the level of coercion, which sets the stage for a massive increase in positive social interaction. In effect, PMTO alters the family environment and thereby opens doors to healthy new social environments.