Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2004
A population-based, randomized universal classroom intervention trial for the prevention of disru... more A population-based, randomized universal classroom intervention trial for the prevention of disruptive behavior (i.e., attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiant problems, and conduct problems) is described. Impact on developmental trajectories in young elementary schoolchildren was studied. Three trajectories were identified in children with high, intermediate, or low levels of problems on all 3 disruptive behaviors at baseline. The intervention had a positive impact on the development of all disruptive behavior problems in children with intermediate levels of these problems at baseline. Effect sizes of mean difference at outcome were medium or small. In children with the highest levels of disruptive behavior at baseline, a positive impact of the intervention was found for conduct problems.
Objective: To compare problem behaviour in Turkish immigrant children living in the Netherlands v... more Objective: To compare problem behaviour in Turkish immigrant children living in the Netherlands versus problem behaviour in Dutch children from the general population as reported by teachers. Method: Teacher's Report Forms (TRF) were ®lled out by Dutch teachers, and for a subsample also by Turkish immigrant teachers, concerning 524 Turkish immigrant children selected randomly from the immigrant population in two large cities in the Netherlands. TRFs completed for Turkish immigrant children were compared with TRFs ®lled out for 1625 children selected randomly from the Dutch general population. Results: No signi®cant differences were revealed between children from both cultures on the TRF total problems, internalizing, externalizing and speci®c syndrome scales. Turkish immigrant teachers, however, reported higher total problems, internalizing and anxious/depressed scores for immigrant children than did Dutch teachers for the same immigrant children. Conclusion: No signi®cant differences were found in the levels of behavioural and emotional problems reported by Dutch teachers for Turkish immigrant versus Dutch children. However, Turkish immigrant teachers reported high levels of anxiety and depression in immigrant children which go largely undetected by their Dutch teachers.
The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends,... more The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends, and peer rejection was tested with a preventive intervention; 664 boys and girls were randomly assigned to a universal classroom-based intervention targeting disruptive behavior or a control condition. Peer nominations of antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection were assessed annually for 4 years. A high, a moderate, and a stable low antisocial behavior trajectory were identified. Large reductions in antisocial behavior were found among intervention children who followed the high trajectory. These reductions coincided with affiliations with nondeviant peers and with decreases in peer rejection. The affiliation between deviant and nondeviant peers was initiated by nondeviant children. The results support a causal role of deviant friends and peer rejection in the development of antisocial behavior. The implications for our understanding of the mechanisms leading to reductions in antisocial behavior are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to compare syndromes of parent-reported problems for children in 12... more The purpose of this study was to compare syndromes of parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Method: Child Behavior Checklists were analyzed for 13,697 children and adolescents, ages 6 through 17 years, from general population samples in Australia,
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sep 1, 1997
ObJective: To compare parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Method: Child Behavio... more ObJective: To compare parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Method: Child Behavior Checklists were analyzed for 13,697 children and adolescents, aged 6 through 17 years, from general population samples in Australia,
Developmental trajectories of peer-nominated aggression, risk factors at baseline, and outcomes w... more Developmental trajectories of peer-nominated aggression, risk factors at baseline, and outcomes were studied. Peer nominations of aggression were obtained annually from grades 1 to 3. Three developmental trajectories were identified: an early-onset/increasers trajectory with high levels of peer-nominated aggression at elementary school entry and increasing levels throughout follow-up; a moderate-persistent trajectory of aggression in which children were characterized by moderate levels of physical aggression at baseline; and a third trajectory with stable low levels of aggression. Children following the early-onset/increasers trajectory showed physical forms of aggression at baseline. Male gender and comorbid attention deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiant problems and poor prosocial behavior plus negative life events predicted which children would follow the earlyonset/increasers trajectory of aggression. The outcomes associated with the early-onset/increaser children suggest high risk for chronically high levels of aggressive behavior.
Background/Aims: Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have often been asso... more Background/Aims: Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have often been associated with early-onset smoking. We hypothesize that reductions in ADHD symptoms due to an intervention have a mediating effect on early-onset smoking. Methods: In a universal, school-based, randomized controlled intervention trial, we examined whether intervention-induced reductions in ADHD symptoms at age 9 mediated the reduced risk of tobacco use onset among these children at age 10 or 11 years. A sample of 477 first-grade boys and girls were randomly assigned to the Good Behavior Game intervention (n = 263), a 2-year (grades 2 and 3) universal classroom-based intervention aimed at reducing disruptive behavior problems, or to a control condition (n = 214). ADHD symptoms were assessed through teacher ratings. Early onset of tobacco use was assessed through self-report. Results: The intervention-induced reductions in ADHD symptoms fully mediated the distal effect of intervention on reductions in early-onset smoking. Conclusions: Our results showed that programs that target ADHD symptoms may protect children from early-onset smoking as well. Further research is needed to examine pathways from ADHD symptoms to tobacco use.
... Inmiddels is de lijst in meer dan vijftig talen beschikbaar, waaronder Turks en standaard Ara... more ... Inmiddels is de lijst in meer dan vijftig talen beschikbaar, waaronder Turks en standaard Arabisch. ... Sleutel tot culturen: 1. Australie¨, 2. Belgie¨, 3. China, 4. Duitsland, 5. Griekenland, 6. Israe¨l, 7. Jamaica, 8. Nederland, 9. Puerto Rico, 10. Zweden, 11. Thailand, 12. ...
Background: The prevention of child abuse should starts as early as possible in the life of child... more Background: The prevention of child abuse should starts as early as possible in the life of children living in families at risk for abuse. We describe a two-stage selection procedure to identify those pregnant women who are at risk for child abuse. The procedure was developed to guide these mothers to VoorZorg, the Dutch adaptation of the Nurse-Family Partnership program. Methods: In the first stage of the selection, professionals, most often midwives, apply five inclusion criteria: maximum age of 25 years, low educational level, maximum gestational age of 28 weeks, no previous live births and understanding of the Dutch language. In the second stage, trained nurses interview the selected pregnant women by applying a checklist with risk factors for child abuse. To identify the appropriateness of the two-stage selection procedure trained interviewers measured risk behaviour of the selected participants with validated questionnaires. Results: 460 high risk pregnant women were selected through the two-stage selection procedure. The prevalence of risk factors for child abuse in this sample is: single parent: 76%, drug or alcohol use: 25%, history of abuse: 50%, no current job and/or education: 74%. In total, 98% of the selected women had ≥ 4 risk factors for child abuse. Conclusions: The two-stage selection procedure adequately identifies pregnant women with multiple risk factors for child abuse.
Question: What is the frequency of parentreported somatic complaints of children in Germany and t... more Question: What is the frequency of parentreported somatic complaints of children in Germany and the Netherlands dependent on their age, sex and the education of their parents. Methods: 4876 CBCL (Child Behaviour Checklist) of children aged 4 through 17 years from the general population were analysed. Results: Dutch children were scored higher by their parents than German children.Moreover somatic complaints increased with age and girls were scored higher.The frequencies of somatic complaints varied from 2% for 'problems with eyes'to 15% for 'headaches' .The presence of one somatic complaint increased the likelihood of concomitant somatic complaints. Conclusion: Somatic complaints of children without any known cause are often seen. Some symptoms are often reported together.More, especially causal studies on the somatic symptoms of children are recommended.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2004
A population-based, randomized universal classroom intervention trial for the prevention of disru... more A population-based, randomized universal classroom intervention trial for the prevention of disruptive behavior (i.e., attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiant problems, and conduct problems) is described. Impact on developmental trajectories in young elementary schoolchildren was studied. Three trajectories were identified in children with high, intermediate, or low levels of problems on all 3 disruptive behaviors at baseline. The intervention had a positive impact on the development of all disruptive behavior problems in children with intermediate levels of these problems at baseline. Effect sizes of mean difference at outcome were medium or small. In children with the highest levels of disruptive behavior at baseline, a positive impact of the intervention was found for conduct problems.
Objective: To compare problem behaviour in Turkish immigrant children living in the Netherlands v... more Objective: To compare problem behaviour in Turkish immigrant children living in the Netherlands versus problem behaviour in Dutch children from the general population as reported by teachers. Method: Teacher's Report Forms (TRF) were ®lled out by Dutch teachers, and for a subsample also by Turkish immigrant teachers, concerning 524 Turkish immigrant children selected randomly from the immigrant population in two large cities in the Netherlands. TRFs completed for Turkish immigrant children were compared with TRFs ®lled out for 1625 children selected randomly from the Dutch general population. Results: No signi®cant differences were revealed between children from both cultures on the TRF total problems, internalizing, externalizing and speci®c syndrome scales. Turkish immigrant teachers, however, reported higher total problems, internalizing and anxious/depressed scores for immigrant children than did Dutch teachers for the same immigrant children. Conclusion: No signi®cant differences were found in the levels of behavioural and emotional problems reported by Dutch teachers for Turkish immigrant versus Dutch children. However, Turkish immigrant teachers reported high levels of anxiety and depression in immigrant children which go largely undetected by their Dutch teachers.
The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends,... more The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends, and peer rejection was tested with a preventive intervention; 664 boys and girls were randomly assigned to a universal classroom-based intervention targeting disruptive behavior or a control condition. Peer nominations of antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection were assessed annually for 4 years. A high, a moderate, and a stable low antisocial behavior trajectory were identified. Large reductions in antisocial behavior were found among intervention children who followed the high trajectory. These reductions coincided with affiliations with nondeviant peers and with decreases in peer rejection. The affiliation between deviant and nondeviant peers was initiated by nondeviant children. The results support a causal role of deviant friends and peer rejection in the development of antisocial behavior. The implications for our understanding of the mechanisms leading to reductions in antisocial behavior are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to compare syndromes of parent-reported problems for children in 12... more The purpose of this study was to compare syndromes of parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Method: Child Behavior Checklists were analyzed for 13,697 children and adolescents, ages 6 through 17 years, from general population samples in Australia,
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sep 1, 1997
ObJective: To compare parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Method: Child Behavio... more ObJective: To compare parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Method: Child Behavior Checklists were analyzed for 13,697 children and adolescents, aged 6 through 17 years, from general population samples in Australia,
Developmental trajectories of peer-nominated aggression, risk factors at baseline, and outcomes w... more Developmental trajectories of peer-nominated aggression, risk factors at baseline, and outcomes were studied. Peer nominations of aggression were obtained annually from grades 1 to 3. Three developmental trajectories were identified: an early-onset/increasers trajectory with high levels of peer-nominated aggression at elementary school entry and increasing levels throughout follow-up; a moderate-persistent trajectory of aggression in which children were characterized by moderate levels of physical aggression at baseline; and a third trajectory with stable low levels of aggression. Children following the early-onset/increasers trajectory showed physical forms of aggression at baseline. Male gender and comorbid attention deficit/hyperactivity problems, oppositional defiant problems and poor prosocial behavior plus negative life events predicted which children would follow the earlyonset/increasers trajectory of aggression. The outcomes associated with the early-onset/increaser children suggest high risk for chronically high levels of aggressive behavior.
Background/Aims: Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have often been asso... more Background/Aims: Symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have often been associated with early-onset smoking. We hypothesize that reductions in ADHD symptoms due to an intervention have a mediating effect on early-onset smoking. Methods: In a universal, school-based, randomized controlled intervention trial, we examined whether intervention-induced reductions in ADHD symptoms at age 9 mediated the reduced risk of tobacco use onset among these children at age 10 or 11 years. A sample of 477 first-grade boys and girls were randomly assigned to the Good Behavior Game intervention (n = 263), a 2-year (grades 2 and 3) universal classroom-based intervention aimed at reducing disruptive behavior problems, or to a control condition (n = 214). ADHD symptoms were assessed through teacher ratings. Early onset of tobacco use was assessed through self-report. Results: The intervention-induced reductions in ADHD symptoms fully mediated the distal effect of intervention on reductions in early-onset smoking. Conclusions: Our results showed that programs that target ADHD symptoms may protect children from early-onset smoking as well. Further research is needed to examine pathways from ADHD symptoms to tobacco use.
... Inmiddels is de lijst in meer dan vijftig talen beschikbaar, waaronder Turks en standaard Ara... more ... Inmiddels is de lijst in meer dan vijftig talen beschikbaar, waaronder Turks en standaard Arabisch. ... Sleutel tot culturen: 1. Australie¨, 2. Belgie¨, 3. China, 4. Duitsland, 5. Griekenland, 6. Israe¨l, 7. Jamaica, 8. Nederland, 9. Puerto Rico, 10. Zweden, 11. Thailand, 12. ...
Background: The prevention of child abuse should starts as early as possible in the life of child... more Background: The prevention of child abuse should starts as early as possible in the life of children living in families at risk for abuse. We describe a two-stage selection procedure to identify those pregnant women who are at risk for child abuse. The procedure was developed to guide these mothers to VoorZorg, the Dutch adaptation of the Nurse-Family Partnership program. Methods: In the first stage of the selection, professionals, most often midwives, apply five inclusion criteria: maximum age of 25 years, low educational level, maximum gestational age of 28 weeks, no previous live births and understanding of the Dutch language. In the second stage, trained nurses interview the selected pregnant women by applying a checklist with risk factors for child abuse. To identify the appropriateness of the two-stage selection procedure trained interviewers measured risk behaviour of the selected participants with validated questionnaires. Results: 460 high risk pregnant women were selected through the two-stage selection procedure. The prevalence of risk factors for child abuse in this sample is: single parent: 76%, drug or alcohol use: 25%, history of abuse: 50%, no current job and/or education: 74%. In total, 98% of the selected women had ≥ 4 risk factors for child abuse. Conclusions: The two-stage selection procedure adequately identifies pregnant women with multiple risk factors for child abuse.
Question: What is the frequency of parentreported somatic complaints of children in Germany and t... more Question: What is the frequency of parentreported somatic complaints of children in Germany and the Netherlands dependent on their age, sex and the education of their parents. Methods: 4876 CBCL (Child Behaviour Checklist) of children aged 4 through 17 years from the general population were analysed. Results: Dutch children were scored higher by their parents than German children.Moreover somatic complaints increased with age and girls were scored higher.The frequencies of somatic complaints varied from 2% for 'problems with eyes'to 15% for 'headaches' .The presence of one somatic complaint increased the likelihood of concomitant somatic complaints. Conclusion: Somatic complaints of children without any known cause are often seen. Some symptoms are often reported together.More, especially causal studies on the somatic symptoms of children are recommended.
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