Hostname: page-component-7d8f8d645b-xmxxh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2023-05-28T04:37:33.331Z Has data issue: false Feature Flags: { "useRatesEcommerce": true } hasContentIssue false

Reward sensitivity, impulse control, and social cognition as mediators of the link between childhood family adversity and externalizing behavior in eight countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2017

Jennifer E. Lansford*
Affiliation:
Duke University
Jennifer Godwin
Affiliation:
Duke University
Marc H. Bornstein
Affiliation:
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Lei Chang
Affiliation:
University of Macau
Kirby Deater-Deckard
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts
Laura Di Giunta
Affiliation:
Università di Roma La Sapienza
Kenneth A. Dodge
Affiliation:
Duke University
Patrick S. Malone
Affiliation:
Duke University
Paul Oburu
Affiliation:
Maseno University
Concetta Pastorelli
Affiliation:
Università di Roma La Sapienza
Ann T. Skinner
Affiliation:
Duke University
Emma Sorbring
Affiliation:
University West
Laurence Steinberg
Affiliation:
Temple University King Abdulaziz University
Sombat Tapanya
Affiliation:
Chiang Mai University
Liane Peña Alampay
Affiliation:
Ateneo de Manila University
Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado
Affiliation:
Universidad San Buenaventura
Suha M. Al-Hassan
Affiliation:
Hashemite University Emirates College for Advanced Education
Dario Bacchini
Affiliation:
University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jennifer E. Lansford, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Box 90545, Durham, NC 27708; E-mail: lansford@duke.edu.

Abstract

Using data from 1,177 families in eight countries (Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States), we tested a conceptual model of direct effects of childhood family adversity on subsequent externalizing behaviors as well as indirect effects through psychological mediators. When children were 9 years old, mothers and fathers reported on financial difficulties and their use of corporal punishment, and children reported perceptions of their parents’ rejection. When children were 10 years old, they completed a computerized battery of tasks assessing reward sensitivity and impulse control and responded to questions about hypothetical social provocations to assess their hostile attributions and proclivity for aggressive responding. When children were 12 years old, they reported on their externalizing behavior. Multigroup structural equation models revealed that across all eight countries, childhood family adversity had direct effects on externalizing behaviors 3 years later, and childhood family adversity had indirect effects on externalizing behavior through psychological mediators. The findings suggest ways in which family-level adversity poses risk for children's subsequent development of problems at psychological and behavioral levels, situated within diverse cultural contexts.

Type
Special Issue Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This research was funded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant RO1-HD054805, Fogarty International Center Grant RO3-TW008141, and the Jacobs Foundation. This research was also supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH/NICHD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the NICHD.

References

Asarnow, J. R., & Callan, J. W. (1985). Boys with peer adjustment problems: Social cognitive processes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 8087. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.53.1.80 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 715. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bornstein, M. H. (2012). Cultural approaches to parenting. Parenting: Science and Practice, 12, 212221. doi:10.1080/15295192.2012.683359 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cauffman, E., Shulman, E., Steinberg, L., Claus, E., Banich, M., Graham, S., & Woolard, J. L. (2010). Age differences in affective decision making as indexed by performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Developmental Psychology, 46, 193207. doi:10.1037/a0016128 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colman, R. A., Hardy, S. A., Albert, M., Raffaelli, M., & Crockett, L. (2006). Early predictors of self-regulation in middle childhood. Infant and Child Development, 15, 421437. doi:10.1002/icd.469 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conger, R. D., Conger, K. J., & Martin, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status, family processes, and individual development. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 685704. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00725.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, E. J., Compton, S. N., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Relationships between poverty and psychopathology: A natural experiment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290, 20232029. doi:10.1001/jama.290.15.2023 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crick, N. R., & Bigbee, M. A. (1998). Relational and overt forms of peer victimization: A multi-informant approach. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 337347. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.66.2.337 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74101. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.115.1.74 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis-Kean, P. E., Huesmann, L. R., Jager, J., Collins, W. A., Bates, J. E., & Lansford, J. E. (2008). Changes in the relation of self-efficacy beliefs and behaviors across development. Child Development, 79, 12571269. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01187.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dearing, E., McCartney, K., & Taylor, B. A. (2006). Within-child associations between family income and externalizing and internalizing problems. Developmental Psychology, 42, 237252. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.237 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1990). Mechanisms in the cycle of violence. Science, 250, 6781683. doi:10.1126/science.2270481 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Lansford, J. E., Burks, V. S., Bates, J. E., Pettit, G. S., Fontaine, R., & Price, J. M. (2003). Peer rejection and social information-processing factors in the development of aggressive behavior problems in children. Child Development, 74, 374393. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.7402004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Malone, P. S., Lansford, J. E., Sorbring, E., Skinner, A. T., Tapanya, S., … Pastorelli, C. (2015). Hostile attributional bias and aggressive behavior in global context. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112, 93109315. doi:10.1073/pnas.1418572112 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (1994). Socialization mediators of the relation between socioeconomic status and child conduct problems. Child Development, 65, 649665. doi:10.2307/1131407 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duell, N., Steinberg, L., Chein, J., Al-Hassan, S. M., Bacchini, D., Chang, L., … Alampay, L. P. (2016). Interaction of reward seeking and self-regulation in the prediction of risk taking: A cross-national test of the dual systems model. Developmental Psychology, 52, 15931605. doi:10.1037/dev0000152 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duncan, G. J., Engel, M., Claessens, A., & Dowsett, C. J. (2014). Replication and robustness in developmental research. Developmental Psychology, 50, 24172425. doi:10.1037/a0037996 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erkut, S. (2010). Developing multiple language versions of instruments for intercultural research. Child Development Perspectives, 4, 1924. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2009.00111.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Espelage, D. L., Low, S., Polanin, J. R., & Brown, E. C. (2013). The impact of a middle school program to reduce aggression, victimization, and sexual violence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53, 180186. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.02.021 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, G. W., & English, K. (2002). The environment of poverty: Multiple stressor exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment. Child Development, 73, 12381248. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00469 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farrell, A. D., Danish, S. J., & Howard, C. W. (1992). Risk factors for drug use in urban adolescents: Identification and cross-validation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 263286. doi:10.1007/BF00937910 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fontaine, R. G., Yang, C. M., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2009). Development of response evaluation and decision (RED) and antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 45, 447459. doi:10.1037/a0014142 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Galván, A. (2010). The teenage brain: Sensitivity to rewards. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 8893. doi:10.1177/0963721413480859 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershoff, E. T. (2016). Should parents' physical punishment of children be considered a source of toxic stress that affects brain development? Family Relations, 65, 151162. doi:10.1111/fare.12177 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershoff, E. T., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016). Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. Journal of Family Psychology, 30, 453469. doi:10.1037/fam0000191 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Greenberg, M. T., Kusche, C. A., Cook, E. T., & Quamma, J. P. (1995). Promoting emotional competence in school-aged children: The effects of the PATHS curriculum. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 117136. doi:10.1017/S0954579400006374 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61135. doi:10.1017/S0140525X0999152X CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 155. doi:10.1080/10705519909540118 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Icenogle, G., Steinberg, L., Olino, T. M., Shulman, E. P., Chein, J., Alampay, L. P., … Uribe Tirado, L. M. (2017). Puberty predicts approach but not avoidance behavior on the Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational sample. Child Development, 88, 15981614. doi:10.1111/cdev.12655 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khaleque, A., & Rohner, R. P. (2012). Pancultural associations between perceived parental acceptance and psychological adjustment of children and adults: A meta-analytic review of worldwide research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 784800. doi:10.1177/0022022111406120 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, K. M., Lengua, L. J., & Monahan, K. C. (2013). Individual differences in the development of self-regulation during pre-adolescence: Connections to context and adjustment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 5769. doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9665-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lansford, J. E., Cappa, C., Putnick, D. L., Bornstein, M. H., Deater-Deckard, K., & Bradley, R. H. (in press). Change over time in parents’ beliefs about and reported use of corporal punishment in eight countries with and without legal bans. Child Abuse and Neglect. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.10.016 Google ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., Chang, L., Dodge, K. A., Malone, P. S., Oburu, P., Palmérus, K., … Quinn, N. (2005). Physical discipline and children's adjustment: Cultural normativeness as a moderator. Child Development, 76, 12341246. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00847.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2012). Childrearing discipline and violence in developing countries. Child Development, 83, 6275. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01676.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Dodge, K. A., Crozier, J. C., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E. (2006). A 12-year prospective study of patterns of social information processing problems and externalizing behaviors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 709718. doi:10.1007/s10802-006-9057-4 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maxwell, B. (1996). Translation and cultural adaptation of the survey instruments. In Martin, M. O. & Kelly, D. L. (Eds.), Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) technical report: Vol. 1. Design and development. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College.Google Scholar
Morris, N., Keane, S., Calkins, S., Shanahan, L., & O'Brien, M. (2014). Differential components of reactivity and attentional control predicting externalizing behavior. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 35, 121127. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2014.02.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moser, C. O. N. (1996). Confronting crisis: A comparative study of household responses to poverty and vulnerability in four poor urban communities (Environmentally sustainable development studies and monographs series 8). Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2015). Mplus user's guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Norenzayan, A., & Heine, S. J. (2005). Psychological universals: What are they and how can we know? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 763784. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.131.5.763 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orobio de Castro, B., Veerman, J. W., Koops, W., Bosch, J. D., & Monshouwer, H. J. (2002). Hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 73, 916934. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00447 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Orpinas, P., & Frankowski, R. (2001). The aggression scale: A self-report measure of aggressive behavior for young adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 21, 5168. doi:10.1177/0272431601021001003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ozer, E. J., Fernald, L. C. H., Manley, J. G., & Gertler, P. J. (2009). Effects of a conditional cash transfer program on children's behavior problems. Pediatrics, 123, e630e637. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2882 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peña, E. D. (2007). Lost in translation: Methodological considerations in cross-cultural research. Child Development, 78, 12551264. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01064.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, E., & Slovic, P. (2000). The springs of action: Affective and analytical information processing in choice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 14651475. doi:10.1177/01461672002612002 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnick, D. L., Bornstein, M. H., Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Pastorelli, C., Skinner, A. T, … Oburu, P. (2015). Perceived mother and father acceptance-rejection predict four unique aspects of child adjustment across nine countries. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56, 923932. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12366 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohner, R. P. (2004). The parental “acceptance-rejection syndrome”: Universal correlates of perceived rejection. American Psychologist, 59, 830840. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.59.8.830 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohner, R. P. (2005). Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire (PARQ/Control): Test manual. In Rohner, R. P. & Khaleque, A. (Eds.), Handbook for the study of parental acceptance and rejection (4th ed., pp. 137186). Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut.Google Scholar
Shallice, T. (1982). Specific impairments of planning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 298, 199209. doi:10.1098/rstb.1982.0082 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shulman, E. P., Smith, A. R., Silva, K., Icenogle, G., Duell, N., Chein, J., & Steinberg, L. (2016). The dual systems model: Review, reappraisal, and reaffirmation. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 103117. doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2015.12.010 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simons, D. A., & Wurtele, S. K. (2010). Relationships between parents' use of corporal punishment and their children's endorsement of spanking and hitting other children. Child Abuse and Neglect, 34, 639646. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.01.012 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skinner, A. T., Oburu, P., Lansford, J. E., & Bacchini, D. (2014). Childrearing violence and child adjustment after exposure to Kenyan post-election violence. Psychology of Violence, 4, 3750. doi:10.1037/a0033237 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L. (2008). A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Developmental Review, 28, 78106. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L., Albert, D., Cauffman, E., Banich, M., Graham, S., & Woolard, J. (2008). Age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity as indexed by behavior and self-report: Evidence for a dual systems model. Developmental Psychology, 44, 17641778. doi:10.1037/a0012955 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L., Icenogle, G., Shulman, E. P., Breiner, K., Chein, J. M., Bacchini, D., … Takash, H. M. S. (in press). Around the world, adolescence is a time of heightened reward seeking and immature self-regulation. Developmental Science. doi:10.1111/desc.1253 Google Scholar
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Finkelhor, D., Moore, D. W., & Runyan, D. (1998). Identification of child maltreatment with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales: Development and psychometric data for a national sample of American parents. Child Abuse and Neglect, 22, 249270. doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(97)00174-9 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
UNESCO. (2016). Philippine children rebuild lives after typhoon with long-term help from UNESCO. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/philippine_children_rebuild_lives_after_typhoon_with_long_te/ Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2000). Child poverty in rich nations. Florence, Italy: Author.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2006). Multiple indicator cluster survey manual 2005: Monitoring the situation of children and women. New York: Author.Google Scholar
UNICEF. (2016). State of the world's children. New York: Author.Google ScholarPubMed
Weiss, B., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. A. (1992). Some consequences of early harsh discipline: Child aggression and a maladaptive social-information-processing style. Child Development, 63, 13211335. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01697.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisz, J. R., Sigman, M., Weiss, B., & Mosk, J. (1993). Parent reports of behavioral and emotional problems among children in Kenya, Thailand, and the United States. Child Development, 64, 98109. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02897.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weisz, J. R., Suwanlert, S., Chaiyasit, W., & Walter, B. R. (1987). Over- and undercontrolled referral problems among children and adolescents from Thailand and the United States: The wat and wai of cultural differences. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 719726. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.55.5.719 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Widom, C. S., & Wilson, H. W. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of violence. In Lindert, J. & Levav, I. (Eds.), Violence and mental health (pp. 2745). Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
World Bank. (2014). Relative versus absolute poverty headcount ratios: The full breakdown. Retrieved from http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/relative-versus-absolute-poverty-headcount-ratios-full-breakdown Google Scholar