Warriors and Worriers : Development, Protective and Exacerbating Factors in Children with Behavior Problems. A Study Across the First Six Years of School

Sammanfattning: Various aspects of elementary school children's behavior problems were investigated in four studies. In Study I, teachers’ perceived low control over the classroom situation and a custodial teacher orientation were associated with teachers' (n = 86) preferences for authoritarian strategies (e.g., firm commands) in handling externalizing child behavior problems. Further, perceived high control and a humanistic teacher orientation were associated with non-authoritarian strategies (e.g., reasoning with students). In Study II, the aim was to investigate prospectively teacher-child interactions and teacher-child perceptions of the relationship between children with externalizing (n=26) and internalizing (n=25) behavior problems and unproblematic children (n=44) in the first grade. Children with behavior problems had a higher frequency of negative teacher relationships than unproblematic children. Observed conflictual children-teacher interactions contributed to negative teacher relationships independent of problem status. The moderating effects of social competence were small. In Study III, the principal aim was to investigate whether the children’s social competence, relationships with teachers and behavior with peers functioned as protective or exacerbating factors regarding the adaptation of children with behavior problems. Children with externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, in comparison with unproblematic children, were lower in social competence, school achievement and peer acceptance in sixth grade. There were moderating and independent effects of social competence and teacher and peer relationships on outcomes, but these were mainly restricted to those children with internalizing problems. The primary aim of Study IV was to investigate the social and school adjustment of six-grade children experiencing feelings of loneliness and low peer acceptance. Totally, 808 children participated, and 323 of these children had been followed from grade 1 to grade 6. The results indicated that loneliness was most strongly predicted by early internalizing problems, whereas poor acceptance was predicted by early externalizing problems and poor social competence. Associations between loneliness and low peer acceptance and other adjustment difficulties were also observed. In conclusion, children with behavior problems risk negative relationships as well as other adjustment problems. Early interventions are important in strengthening the protective factors.