Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
J Urban Health. 2011 Jun;88(3):493-506. doi: 10.1007/s11524-010-9528-3.
This is the first prospective study to examine the precursors of child externalizing behavior across three generations of African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Participants comprised a community cohort of male and female African Americans and Puerto Ricans (N = 366, X⁻ age = 29.4 years), who are part of an ongoing study of drug use and problem behaviors, and who had a child. Data were collected at four time waves, spanning the participants' adolescence to adulthood. Questionnaires were initially self-administered in schools in East Harlem, NY, USA (time 1). Subsequently, structured interviews were conducted by trained interviewers (times 2 and 3), and self-administered via mail (time 4). The independent variables consisted of the participants' prospective reports of their (a) relationships with their parents during adolescence, (b) depressive mood and drug use (adolescence to adulthood), (c) relationship with their oldest child between the ages of 6-13, and (d) perceptions of neighborhood crime and deterioration (in adulthood). The dependent variable was externalizing behavior in the participant's oldest child (X⁻ age = 9.6 years; SD = 2.0). Structural equation modeling showed that the parent-child relationship during participants' adolescence was linked with the participants' depressive mood and drug use which, in turn, were associated with the participants' relationship with their own child, as well as with neighborhood crime and deterioration when participants were adults. The participants' depressive mood, and relationship with their own child, as well as neighborhood crime and deterioration, each had a direct pathway to externalizing behavior in the participant's child. Findings suggest that intervention programs and public policy should address parental attributes, neighborhood factors, and, especially, parenting skills, to reduce risk factors for the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior.
这是第一项前瞻性研究，旨在探讨非裔美国人和波多黎各人三代人的儿童外化行为的前兆。参与者包括一个由非裔美国人和波多黎各男性和女性组成的社区队列（N=366，X⁻年龄=29.4 岁），他们是正在进行的药物使用和问题行为研究的一部分，并且有一个孩子。数据在四个时间波次中收集，涵盖了参与者的青春期到成年期。问卷最初在纽约东哈林区的学校中由参与者自我填写（第 1 次）。随后，由受过培训的访谈者进行了结构化访谈（第 2 次和第 3 次），并通过邮件进行了自我填写（第 4 次）。自变量包括参与者在青春期期间对其（a）与父母的关系，（b）抑郁情绪和药物使用（青春期到成年期），（c）与 6-13 岁之间的最大孩子的关系，以及（d）对邻里犯罪和恶化的看法（成年后）的前瞻性报告。因变量是参与者最大孩子的外化行为（X⁻年龄=9.6 岁；SD=2.0）。结构方程模型表明，参与者青春期时的亲子关系与参与者的抑郁情绪和药物使用有关，而这些又与参与者与自己孩子的关系以及参与者成年后邻里犯罪和恶化有关。参与者的抑郁情绪，与自己孩子的关系以及邻里犯罪和恶化，都与参与者孩子的外化行为有直接关系。研究结果表明，干预计划和公共政策应解决父母特质，邻里因素，特别是育儿技能，以减少外化行为代际传递的风险因素。
