Moderating effects of gender on the relationship between poverty and children's externalizing behaviors

Previous research suggests that boys are at a greater likelihood of exhibiting externalizing behaviors throughout their childhood than girls. In addition, previous research suggests that children who are born into impoverished conditions are more likely to exhibit externalizing behaviors than their peers who are born into higher socio-economic conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the trajectory of externalizing behaviors between boys and girls. In addition, the effects of poverty on externalizing behaviors by gender were also investigated. The findings suggest that in the sample used for this study, boys and girls were virtually equal in externalizing behaviors from 2 years old through 5th grade. In addition, analyses revealed that time spent in poverty predicted a greater occurrence of externalizing behaviors over time for girls, but not boys. These findings suggest that what has previously been assumed about externalizing behaviors in boys and girls may be less concrete than was once thought. Implications and future research directions are discussed.