Multiple risk factors for multiproblem boys: Co-occurrence of delinquency, substance use, attention deficit, conduct problems, physical aggression, covert behavior, depressed mood, and shy/withdrawn behavior

Abstract

Researchers have not been in agreement about whether to consider all juvenile problem behaviors as sufficiently similar to be covered by a single construct. Some have advocated a general deviance or problem construct (e.g., Donovan, 1996; Donovan, Jessor, & Costa, 1988; Jessor, Donovan, & Costa, 1991; Jessor & Jessor, 1977; Kaplan, 1980; Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992; Robins, 1966), whereas others have advocated a more differentiated approach (e.g., Loeber, 1988; McCord, 1990; McGee & Newcomb, 1992; Osgood, Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 1988). Some have distinguished between types of externalizing problems – for example, covert or property offenses versus overt or person-related offenses (e.g., Frick et al., 1993; Loeber, 1988; Loeber & Schmaling, 1985a), but others have focused on externalizing problems or delinquency in general (e.g., Hirschi & Gottfredson, 1983; Patterson, 1982). Some researchers have made a distinction between externalizing problems or delinquency and substance use (Loeber, 1988; White & Labouvie, 1994), but others have maintained that they represent the same underlying construct (e.g., Elliott, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985; Jessor & Jessor, 1977; Pulkkinen, 1983). Few researchers have investigated the extent to which externalizing, attention deficit/hyperactivity, and internalizing behaviors (such as depressed mood and shy/withdrawn behavior) can be best captured by a single-problem approach. Also, whereas sociological investigators have ignored attention deficit and hyperactivity as possible components of a general problem syndrome, they have been more strongly stressed by psychiatrists and psychologists (Hinshaw, 1987).