Hard-to-Manage Preschool Boys: Symptomatic Behavior across Contexts and Time

• Published in: Child development 1994-06, Vol.65 (3), p.836-851
• Main Authors: Campbell, Susan B., Pierce, Elizabeth W., March, Cynthia L., Ewing, Linda J., Szumowski, Emily K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggression; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis; Behavior disorders; Behavior problems; Behavioural problems; Biological and medical sciences; Boys; Child; Child Behavior Disorders - psychology; Child development; Child psychology; Child, Preschool; Children; Classroom observations; Developmental psychology; Follow-Up Studies; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Impulsive Behavior - psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mothers; Parents; Persistence; Preschool children; Preschool education; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; School age children; Toys
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.2307/1131422

Preschool boys identified by their parents and/or teachers as active, inattentive, and impulsive (N = 69) at age 4 were compared with boys without problems (N = 43) on observational measures of symptom-related behaviors, obtained across contexts (home, laboratory, and preschool). Problem boys differed from comparison boys on measures of activity/inattention, noncompliance, and impulsivity obtained in the 3 settings. At a 2-year follow-up, when they were 6 years old, problem boys continued to differ from comparison boys on laboratory measures of activity and impulsivity; there also was some stability in these symptomatic behaviors. Implications of these findings for the emergence and persistence of externalizing problems in preschool boys are addressed.