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Disruptive behavior, peer association, and conduct disorder: testing the developmental links through early
F Vitaro1, M Brendgen, L Pagani
1Research Unit on Children's Psycho-Social Maladjustment, University of Montréal, Boul, Quebec, Canada.
Development and Psychopathology
|March 2, 2006
Summary
This study found that a preventive intervention program reduced conduct problems by decreasing disruptiveness and fostering association with less deviant friends. The program
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Childhood Intervention Studies
- Adolescent Behavior
Background:
- Early disruptiveness is a predictor of later conduct problems.
- Peer influence, particularly association with deviant friends, plays a role in this developmental trajectory.
- Preventive intervention programs aim to mitigate these negative outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test three competing models on the role of deviant friends in linking early disruptiveness to later conduct problems.
- To evaluate the mediating and moderating effects of a preventive intervention program.
- To understand the interaction between intervention outcomes and peer associations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a preventive intervention program implemented in second and third grades.
- Compared three theoretical models predicting the intervention's impact on conduct problems.
- Analyzed the mediating roles of reduced disruptiveness and nondeviant peer association.
- Examined the interaction between post-intervention disruptiveness and peer group affiliation.
Main Results:
- The intervention's positive effects on later conduct problems were mediated by reduced disruptiveness and association with less deviant friends.
- The beneficial impact of associating with less deviant friends was contingent upon the reduction of children's disruptiveness.
- Findings supported a model where intervention success depends on both behavioral change and peer context.
Conclusions:
- Preventive interventions can alter developmental trajectories of conduct problems.
- The influence of peer groups is complex and interacts with individual behavioral changes.
- Future research should employ intervention studies to rigorously test developmental models.
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