1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The present study [seeks] to identify the mechanisms explaining higher levels of internalizing problems among children with conduct problems compared to children without conduct problems.» (p. 465)

Questions/Hypothèses :
The authors «hypothesized that dual failure variables would explain more of the variance in the disparities with regards to teacher-rated internalizing problems, while common cause variables would explain more of the variance for mother reported internalizing problems.» (p. 465)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«[P]articipants from in and around major population centers in Quebec, Canada were recruited from 155 francophone schools based on having conduct problems (N = 434, 44.7% girls) or the absence of these problems (comparison group; N = 310, 49.8% girls).» (p. 466) Participants were all between seven and ten years old.

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

Results show in particular that «negative emotionality, along with maternal distress and peer rejection accounted […] the link between conduct and internalizing problems over time. The importance of negative emotionality, both for mother’s and teacher’s ratings of internalizing problems may highlight the role of a general “psychopathology factor” in understanding co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing problems during childhood and adolescence […]. These findings support the importance of negative emotionality for understanding the association between conduct problem status and internalizing problems in general, and highlight the importance of early interventions and additional support for youth with higher levels of negative emotionality. Similarly, maternal distress was also associated with higher levels of mother-reported internalizing problems, and partially accounted for differences in internalizing among youth with and without conduct problems. The importance of maternal distress may reflect a larger literature indicating possible genetic factors associated with the development of internalizing problems […]. These findings may also reflect how mother’s evaluations of their children’s internalizing problems are influenced by their own internalizing problems […], and may explain why distress mattered more for maternal vs. teacher ratings.» (p. 470)