This chapter examines the origins of physical aggression and violence from a developmental perspective. It focuses on how anger regulation and social contingencies in parent–child and peer interaction contribute to early development of aggression, and how individual differences in children's attention deployment and impulsivity moderate these social processes. From a social learning perspective, socialization occurs in the cumulative, day-to-day interactions of children with their parents, siblings, peers, and teachers. Social learning theory relies heavily on observable social interaction in family and peer settings to ascertain the proximal social processes that evoke, shape, maintain, and elaborate aggressive behavior. Gender differences in physical aggression have multiple determinants. Parents and peers play important but complementary roles in socialization. Early interventions that alter group contingencies for physical aggression and disruptive behavior hold particular promise. These programs can be applied in hallways, lunchrooms, and play-grounds where adult monitoring and contingencies are often nonsystematic and minimal.

Transactional cascades among child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and fathers' and mothers' posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were examined in a sample of families with a male parent who had been deployed to recent military conflicts in the Middle East. The role of parents' positive engagement and coercive interaction with their child, and family members' emotion regulation were tested as processes linking cascades of parent and child symptoms. A subsample of 183 families with deployed fathers and nondeployed mothers and their 4- to 13-year-old children who participated in a randomized control trial intervention (After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools) were assessed at baseline prior to intervention, and at 12 and 24 months after baseline, using parent reports of their own and their child's symptoms. Parents' observed behavior during interaction with their children was coded using a multimethod approach at each assessment point. Reciprocal cascades among fathers' and mothers' PTSD symptoms, and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, were observed. Fathers' and mothers' positive engagement during parent-child interaction linked their PTSD symptoms and their child's internalizing symptoms. Fathers' and mothers' coercive behavior toward their child linked their PTSD symptoms and their child's externalizing symptoms. Each family member's capacity for emotion regulation was associated with his or her adjustment problems at baseline. Implications for intervention, and for research using longitudinal models and a family-systems perspective of co-occurrence and cascades of symptoms across family members are described.

This research examined whether military service members' deployment-related trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and experiential avoidance are associated with their observed levels of positive social engagement, social withdrawal, reactivity-coercion, and distress avoidance during postdeployment family interaction. Self reports of deployment related trauma, postdeployment PTSD symptoms, and experiential avoidance were collected from 184 men who were deployed to the Middle East conflicts, were partnered, and had a child between 4 and 13 years of age. Video samples of parent-child and partner problem solving and conversations about deployment issues were collected, and were rated by trained observers to assess service members' positive engagement, social withdrawal, reactivity-coercion, and distress avoidance, as well as spouse and child negative affect and behavior. Service members' experiential avoidance was reliably associated with less observed positive engagement and more observed withdrawal and distress avoidance after controlling for spouse and child negative affect and behavior during ongoing interaction. Service members' experiential avoidance also diminished significant associations between service members' PTSD symptoms and their observed behavior. The results are discussed in terms of how service members' psychological acceptance promotes family resilience and adaption to the multiple contextual challenges and role transitions associated with military deployment. Implications for parenting and marital interventions are described.

Two longitudinal studies were used to examine the occurrence and consequences of peer deviancy training during childhood and the relative role of early covert antisocial behavior in risk for antisocial behavior in early adolescence. Peer deviancy training was apparent in a sample of at-risk first grade children, and it showed persistence and increased prevalence across the school year. Peer deviancy training, peer rejection, and unskilled parenting made additive contributions to the development of antisocial behavior during kindergarten and first grade and to antisocial behavior in fourth grade. Skilled parenting partially mitigated the association of peer deviancy training with antisocial behavior for boys. The appearance and growth of covert antisocial behavior was a predictor of fourth grade antisocial for boys and girls, more so than aggressive and overt antisocial behavior. Peer deviancy training and early covert antisocial behavior were key pathways to girls' antisocial behavior in fourth grade, and they complemented the roles of peer rejection and overt antisocial behavior for boys. The relationships of parenting and peer processes to trajectories of antisocial behavior were similar for boys and girls; but boys showed higher levels of antisocial behavior, were more involved in peer deviancy training, and were more likely to experience peer rejection.

Teachers from fourteen classrooms were randomly assigned to an adaptation of Incredible Years (IY) teacher training or to teacher training-as-usual. Observations were made of the behavior of 136 target preschool boys and girls nominated by teachers as having many or few conduct problems. Peer and teacher behavior were observed at baseline and post training. IY training resulted in increases in teachers' positive and reductions in teachers' negative behavior relative to training as usual, in decreased peer negative behavior toward target children, and in decreased negative behavior of target children high on conduct problems. The impact of IY training on the behavior of target children was mediated by changes in peers' behavior with no direct effects of teacher behavior and differential effects for high and low conduct problem children. Teacher training focused on altering the whole classroom environment may be an effective strategy, even for children with significant conduct problems.

Three variables were tested as moderators of the relationship between peer deviancy training and child antisocial behavior in a longitudinal study of 267 boys and girls from ages 5.3 to 9.3 years. Deviancy training was directly measured by observation of the discourse and play of children with same-gender classmates. Peer deviancy training was significantly related to multi-setting child antisocial behavior from ages 5.3 to 9.3 years. Child impulsivity, poor parental discipline, and peer rejection were all significant moderators of that relationship, even in the context of their direct association with trajectories of antisocial behavior and after controlling for deviant peer affiliation. These moderator effects appeared to be associated with children's increased sensitivity to peer modeling and reinforcement of deviant discourse and play. Not all children are equally affected by peer deviancy training, and an array of intervention strategies are described that may serve to protect children from deviant peer influence.

This chapter examines how parental discipline, child propensities to displays of anger and fear, and child frontal executive inhibition and verbal skills additively and synergistically contribute to overt (aggressive) and covert (sneaky) forms of antisocial behavior. Overt and covert forms of antisocial behavior emerge on different developmental timetables and result from both common and unique sets of variables and variable combinations. Covert antisocial behaviors such as stealing and lying are associated with harsh and angry parental discipline, good child verbal skills and their interaction. Overt antisocial behaviors such as aggression and defiance are associated with parental nattering and inconsistent discipline, especially in the context of poor child frontal inhibition, and low child fear. The chapter exemplifies models which describe development in ways that integrate children's socialization, emotion expression, and capacity for behavior and emotion regulation.

The prospective relationships of conduct problems and peer coercion and deviancy training during kindergarten (mean age = 5.3 years) to overt and covert conduct problems in third-fourth grade were examined in a sample of 267 boys and girls. Coercion and deviancy training were distinct peer processes. Both were associated with earlier child conduct problems but were differentially associated with child impulsivity, verbal ability, anxiety, peer rejection, and deviant peer affiliation. Coercion by peers predicted overt conduct problems and peer deviancy training and the interaction of deviancy training and coercion predicted covert conduct problems in third-fourth grade. Peer deviancy training occurs in early childhood and may serve as an independent risk mechanism in addition to peer coercion for early-onset, persisting conduct problems.

The authors of this article sought to determine how poor peer social relationships are related to children's future depressive behaviors. They used direct observations of disengagement in a peer social setting, a peer nomination measure of peer affiliates, and teacher reports of depressive behaviors during kindergarten and first grade to model risk for depressive behaviors in the third/fourth grades. Dependable and enduring peer affiliations in kindergarten were significantly negatively associated with a multi-informant construct of depressive behaviors at the higher grade for both girls and boys. Disengagement was positively related to depressive behaviors for girls but not for boys.

s for Empirical Studies: Abstracts of an empirical study are generally about 100––120 words. Include the following information:s of an empirical study are generally about 100––120 words. Include the following information: • problem under investigation (in one sentence) • pertinent characteristics of subjects (number, type, age, sex, and genus and species) • experimental method, including apparatus, data-gathering procedures, complete test • names, and complete generic names and the dosage and routes of administration of any drugs (particularly if the drugs are novel or important to the study) • findings, including statistical significance levels • conclusions and implications or applications Abstracts for Review/Theoretical Articles Abstracts for review or theoretical articles are generally about 75––100 words. Include the following information:s for Review/Theoretical Articles Abstracts for review or theoretical articles are generally about 75––100 words. Include the following information: • the topic in one sentence • purpose, thesis, or organizing construct and the scope (comprehensive or selective) of the article • sources used (e.g., personal observation, published literature) • conclusions

A developmental model of conduct problems is described. Three social processes increase risk for early conduct problems. First, parents and other social agents fail to reinforce children's compliance to explicit commands and instructions. Second, there is a failure to transfer rule -giving and rule -following from external verbal stimuli and contingencies to children's self-description of behavior-consequence relationships. Third, correspondence between children's words and future (promise keeping) or past (truth-telling) behavior is inadequately established. Early conduct problems may also result from the acquisition and rehearsal of non-normative, deviant rules in family and peer settings. As such, conduct problems reflect acquisition of non-normative rules as a result of active deviancy training and deficits in rule governance and word-behavior correspondence. Key Words: Rule governed behavior, develop of conduct disorder, behavioral development and communication. Introduction Research in developmental psychopathology has identified several malleable social processes that increment risk for child and adolescent conduct problems. Identification of these processes, in turn, has powerfully informed the construction of efficacious family- and school-based preventive and clinical interventions for those problems (Reid, Patterson, & Snyder, 2002). Despite such advances, theoretical and empirical efforts to fully describe these processes and to translate relevant findings into concrete intervention tactics are incomplete. The primary focus of developmental and intervention research with younger children has been on what is commonly termed conduct problems, such as physical and verbal aggression, disruptive behavior, and defiance. A relative blind spot in this research concerns the evolution of covert conduct problems (e.g., lying, stealing, cheating) in earlier childhood, and the manner in which these problems can be systematically addressed in preventive and clinical interventions prior to adolescence. The goal of this paper is to formulate a model of the social processes that facilitate the development of conduct problems during childhood, applying the notions of rule governance, language-behavior correspondence, and discrimination learning. Given the diverse backgrounds of readers of this new journal, a brief background is first provided in order to adequately contextualize these goals. Covert Conduct Problems Covert conduct problems refer to a complex class of behaviors that: (a) attain desired materials and reinforcing activities that are normatively sanctioned, and (b) are performed under discriminable environmental or behavioral conditions to minimize experience of those sanctions by proactive or retroactive concealment of the behaviors. This behavioral class includes two generic, sequentially and functionally related sets, as represented in Figure 1. The first set entails behaviors that directly access proscribed materials and activities. Prototypes of attaining behaviors (see center portion of Figure 1) are stealing and cheating, but also include vandalism, fire setting and precocious/pseudo-mature activities (proscribed because of age) such as alcohol/tobacco use and sexual behavior. The second set entails behaviors occurring in a chain either prior to or after performance of the behaviors and whose function is to avoid or escape detection and social sanctions. Prototypes of these surveillance avoidance strategies are scanning the immediate environment for monitoring by social agents (see left portion of Figure 1), and lying (see right hand portion of Figure 1). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Previous developmental and intervention research has often not distinguished between and overt forms of conduct problems because they are highly inter-related, at least when measured concurrently. …

The relationship of parental warmth, communication, and tracking (WCT), and child conduct problems in early elementary school (age 5.5 years) to monitoring in late elementary school (age 9.5 years) was longitudinally examined in a sample of 267 boys and girls. WCT in kindergarten was associated with lower kindergarten levels and less growth of conduct problems into the first grade, and was prospectively associated with effective monitoring in the third and fourth grades. Overt and covert conduct problems in kindergarten and growth in covert problems during kindergarten and first grade were associated with less effective later monitoring. Early conduct problems mediated the prospective association of WCT on later monitoring. The results are described in a transactional model of parent-child relationships and child problem behavior.

The relationships of deviant talk and role taking during peer interaction, association with deviant peers, and growth in overt and covert conduct problems during kindergarten and first grade were examined in a community sample of 267 boys and girls. At entry to kindergarten, high levels of overt and covert conduct problems predicted association with deviant peers, and deviant peer association predicted deviant talk and role taking during peer interaction during kindergarten. Association with deviant peers, and deviant talk and role taking predicted growth in overt and covert conduct problems on the playground, in the classroom, and at home during kindergarten and first grade. Peer processes associated with growth in conduct problems that escalate rapidly during late childhood and adolescence appear to occur in earlier childhood. These peer processes may play a central role in the evolution of conduct problems to include covert as well as overt forms.This research was supported by National Institute of Health Grant MH57342.

The conjoint influence of child impulsiveness-inattention (I/I) and peer relationships on growth trajectories of conduct problems was assessed in a community sample of 267 boys and girls. I/I reliably predicted teacher- and parent-reported conduct problems at kindergarten entry and growth in those problems over the next 2 years for boys and girls. The relation of boys' I/I to conduct problems was mediated, in part, by peer rejection and involvement in coercive exchanges with peers. The relation of girls' I/I to conduct problems was less clearly mediated by peer processes, but peer difficulties had additive effects. The impact of peer relationships on trajectories of conduct problems was apparent to parents as well as to teachers. Although I/I increments risk for early and persisting conduct problems in concert with poor peer relationships, it does so in complex and gender-specific ways.

The application of matching law-response choice paradigm in longitudinal research to identify social environmental and organismic factors that increment risk for the development of maladaptive behavior is described. The fit of data to the matching relation can be used to specify environmental contingencies for problem behavior that may be targeted in preventive and clinical interventions. Deviations in the fit of the data from that predicted by the matching relation can also be used to identify sources of variability in individuals' responsiveness to standardized, contingency-based interventions. The proposed formulation is described in relation to the development and treatment of early-onset conduct problems. Keywords: Matching law, conduct problems, developmental risk research, intervention. ********** This report describes how the matching law-response choice paradigm derived from operant research can be applied in longitudinal research to identify social environmental variables that increment risk for the development of maladaptive behavior. This information can, in turn, be used to powerfully specify environmental contingencies in preventive and clinical interventions to ameliorate problem behavior. This report additionally considers how between-individual differences in temperament, learning history, and similar person variables may work in concert with environmental contingencies to affect risk for problem behavior. Between-individual variation in observed response choice from that predicted by the matching law can be used to identify individuals who are less responsive to contingency-based intervention strategies. Individual differences in sensitivity to experienced contingencies may account for baseline X intervention variation in behavior change outcomes, and consequently supply information about creating increasingly effective and robust preventive and clinical interventions. This formulation is detailed in the context of the development of antisocial behavior. A Reinforcement Account of the Development of Antisocial Behavior Individuals whose development is characterized by early-onset, life-course persistent antisocial behavior contribute substantially to the incidence of multiple problem behaviors during adolescence and adulthood, including criminal activity, drug misuse and abuse, domestic violence, and early child-bearing (Reid, Patterson, & Snyder, 2002). Consequently, efforts to identify malleable social-environmental variables occurring during childhood that increment risk for such trajectories are critical to the development of effective preventive and clinical interventions (Reid & Eddy, 1997). Research suggests that reinforcement contingencies operating in familial (Snyder & Stoolmiller, 2002), peer (Snyder, 2002), and classroom (Walker, Horner, Sugai, Bullis, Sprague, Bricker, & Kaufman, 1996) environments are one source of risk for early appearing conduct problems. This has led to a number of empirically validated, contingency-based interventions to ameliorate risk, including parent training (Brestan & Eyberg, 1998), playground monitoring (Stoolmiller, Eddy, & Reid, 2000), and classroom management (Gorman-Smith, 2003). Given that the theoretical mechanisms underlying environmental risk and intervention effectiveness are thought to involve social reinforcement contingencies, remarkably little research has focused on explicitly testing whether reinforcement mechanisms account for developmental risk or serve as mediators of intervention effects (for exceptions, see Dishion, Spracklen, Andrews, & Patterson, 1996; Schrepferman & Snyder, 2002; Snyder & Patterson, 1995). As such, reinforcement theory is really being applied in a metaphorical manner. Much greater effort has been spent on examining the effectiveness, efficacy and sustainability of interventions for antisocial behavior (Kellam & Langevin, 2003). …

A dual coercion model of family processes associated with the development of antisocial and depressive behavior during adolescence was assessed, using an at-risk sample of families and children. Consistent with the model, involvement in family coercion during childhood and adolescence increased both boys' and girls' risk for antisocial behavior in adolescence and girls' risk for depressive behavior. Coercive family processes served as a link between older and younger siblings' antisocial behavior. Childhood exposure to maternal depression predicted boys' and girls' depressive behavior 10 years later, but this association was not mediated by coercion. The data suggest that family risk factors and processes for antisocial development are similar for boys and girls but pathways to depression may be gender specific.

The rate at which 266 boys and girls ages 5 to 7 years old were victimized by peers was observed on multiple occasions in kindergarten and first grade. Individual differences in victimization were observed at kindergarten entry and in growth over the subsequent 2 years. Victimization increased for some children but decreased for others. Growth in victimization was reciprocally related to growth in teacher-reported antisocial and depressive behavior for boys. For girls, kindergarten victimization was related to growth in parent-reported antisocial behavior, teacher-reported depressive behavior to growth in victimization, and growth in victimization to parent-reported depression. At a short-term group level, antisocial behavior had a lagged suppressive effect on victimization for boys but a facilitating effect for girls.

Coercive parent-child interaction, child oppositional behavior, and parental reinforcement contingencies for child misbehavior were observed before and after treatment in the families of 46 boys referred for serious conduct problems. Reliable pre- to posttreatment reductions in coercive interaction and child noncompliance, and reliable increases in parental reinforcement of constructive child- behavior, were found. Posttreatment parental contingencies for coercive child behavior predicted child arrests over the subsequent 2 years. Children from families whose observed posttreatment coercive interaction, parental contingencies, and child compliance failed to reach levels observed in nonreferred, normative families were more likely to evidence arrests and out-of-home placement during the 2 years after treatment. The implications of using observational data to identify critical mechanisms that mediate change in child antisocial behavior as a result of behavioral parent training are described in terms of developmental theory, the dosage of intervention, and the development of more powerful interventions for child conduct problems.

Theoretical models specifying the contribution of two social-familial mechanisms, negative reinforcement and affect dysregulation, to the development of child antisocial behavior were tested using a sample of 57 8-to 13-year-old boys referred for treatment of conduct problems. Negative reinforcement of boys' aggressive behavior and boys' affect dysregulation were found to covary with the boys' irritability toward parents and siblings and were reliable predictors of a composite measure of child antisocial behavior, defined by out-of-home placement, arrests, and school discipline incidents 2 years later. Reinforcement of aggression and affect dysregulation during family interaction may play complementary roles in the development of antisocial behavior by fostering the use of coercive means of dealing with social conflict. The findings are discussed in terms of research strategies for identifying social mechanisms contributing to child psychopathology and of implications for modification of cunrent family interventions targeting child antisocial behavior.