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Objective: We used latent class analysis (LCA) to examine the prevalence and characteristics of the Dysregulation Profile (DP) based on data from the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6–18. The DP comprises elevated scores on the Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, and Aggressive Behavior syndromes and thus reflects significant problems in self-regulation of mood, attention, and behavior. Method: We examined CBCL data for 56,666 children ages 6 to 16 in 29 societies, many of which are countries but some of which are not (e.g., Hong Kong, Puerto Rico). The 29 societies varied widely in race/ethnicity, religion, geographic location, political/economic system, and population size. Results: The various statistical indices for good LCA model fit, while not always consistent, supported a DP class in every society. The omnicultural mean probability of assignment to the DP class (mean of the societal means) was 93% (SD = 2.4%). Prevalence of the DP class ranged from 2% to 18% across societies, with an omnicultural mean prevalence of 9%. In every society, the DP class had significantly higher scores than the pooled non-DP classes on all three DP syndromes. The 8-syndrome T score profile for the DP class in many societies featured elevations on all eight CBCL syndromes. Conclusions: Although the same instrument, analytic procedures, and decision rules were used in these 29 samples, model fit, the number of classes, and the prevalence of the DP class varied across societies. High scores on the three DP syndromes often co-occurred with high scores on most other CBCL syndromes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our goal was to conduct international comparisons of emotion regulation using the 9-item Emotionally Reactive (ER) syndrome of the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1½–5. We analyzed parent ratings for 17,964 preschoolers from 21 societies, which were grouped into 8 GLOBE study culture clusters (e.g., Nordic, Confucian Asian). Omnicultural broad base rates for ER items ranged from 8.0% to 38.8%. Rank ordering for mean item ratings varied widely across societies (omnicultural Q =.50) but less so across culture clusters (M Q =.66). Societal similarity in mean item rank ordering varied by culture cluster, with large within-cluster similarity for Anglo (Q =.96), Latin Europe (Q =.74), Germanic (Q =.77), and Latin American (Q =.76) clusters, but smaller within-cluster similarity for Nordic, Eastern Europe, and Confucian Asian clusters (Qs =.52,.23, and.44, respectively). Confirmatory factor analyses of the ER syndrome supported configural invariance for all 21 societies. All 9 items showed full to approximate metric invariance, but only 3 items showed approximate scalar invariance. The ER syndrome correlated. 65 with the Anxious/Depressed (A/D) syndrome and.63 with the Aggressive Behavior syndrome. ER items varied in base rates and factor loadings, and societies varied in rank ordering of items as low, medium, or high in mean ratings. Item rank order similarity among societies in the same culture cluster varied widely across culture clusters, suggesting the importance of cultural factors in the assessment of emotion regulation in preschoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental separation is a major adverse childhood experience. Parental separation is generally preceded by conflict, which is itself a risk factor for child problem behavior. Whether parental separation independent of conflict has negative effects on child problem behavior is unclear. This study was embedded in Generation R, a population-based cohort followed from fetal life until age 9 years. Information on family conflict was obtained from 5,808 mothers and fathers. The 4-way decomposition method was used to apportion the effects of prenatal family conflict and parental separation on child problem behavior into 4 nonoverlapping components. Structural equation modeling was used to test bidirectional effects of child problem behavior and family conflict over time. Family conflict from pregnancy onward and parental separation each strongly predicted child problem behavior up to preadolescence according to maternal and paternal ratings. Using the 4-way decomposition method, we found evidence for a strong direct effect of prenatal family conflict on child problem behavior, for reference interaction, and for mediated interaction. The evidence for interaction implies that prenatal family conflict increased the children's vulnerability to the harmful effect of parental separation. There was no evidence of a pure indirect effect of parental separation on child problem behavior. Overall, results indicated that if parental separation occurs in families with low levels of conflict, parental separation does not predict more child problem behavior. Moreover, the bidirectional pattern suggested that child problem behavior influences the persistence of family conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective was to examine international similarities and differences in the Dysregulation Profile (DP) of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher's Report Form (TRF), and Youth Self-Report (YSR) via comparisons of data from many societies. Primary samples were those studied by Rescorla et al. (2012): CBCL: N = 69,866, 42 societies; YSR: N = 38,070, 34 societies; TRF: N = 37,244, 27 societies. Omnicultural Q correlations of items composing the DP (from the Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, and Aggressive Behavior syndromes) indicated considerable consistency across diverse societies with respect to which of the DP items tended to receive low, medium, or high ratings, whether ratings were provided by parents (M Q =.70), adolescents (M Q =.72), or teachers (M Q =.68). Omnicultural mean item ratings indicated that, for all 3 forms, the most common items on the DP reflect a mix of problems from all 3 constituent scales. Cross-informant analyses for the CBCL-YSR and CBCL-TRF supported these results. Aggregated DP scores, derived by summing ratings on all DP items, varied significantly by society. Age and gender differences were minor for all 3 forms, but boys scored higher than girls on the TRF. Many societies differing in ethnicity, religion, political/economic system, and geographical region manifested very similar DP scores. The most commonly reported DP problems reflected the mixed symptom picture of the DP, with dysregulation in mood, attention, and aggression. Overall, societies were more similar than different on DP scale scores and item ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As societies become increasingly diverse, mental health professionals need instruments for assessing emotional, behavioral, and social problems in terms of constructs that are supported within and across societies. Building on decades of research findings, multisample alignment confirmatory factor analyses tested an empirically based 8-syndrome model on parent ratings across 30 societies and youth self-ratings across 19 societies. The Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6–18 and Youth Self-Report for Ages 11–18 were used to measure syndromes descriptively designated as Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/Depressed, Somatic Complaints, Social Problems, Thought Problems, Attention Problems, Rule-Breaking Behavior, and Aggressive Behavior. For both parent ratings (N = 61,703) and self-ratings (N = 29,486), results supported aggregation of problem items into 8 first-order syndromes for all societies (configural invariance), plus the invariance of item loadings (metric invariance) across the majority of societies. Supported across many societies in both parent and self-ratings, the 8 syndromes offer a parsimonious phenotypic taxonomy with clearly operationalized assessment criteria. Mental health professionals in many societies can use the 8 syndromes to assess children and youths for clinical, training, and scientific purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separately for ages 1½ to 5 and 6 to 18, used items for rating behavioral and emotional problems to construct (a) "top-down" DSM-oriented scales from experts' ratings of the items' consistency with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV], American Psychiatric Association, 1994) categories, and (b) "bottom-up" empirically based syndromes from factor analyses of parent, caregiver, teacher, and self ratings (N = 14,853). Both kinds of scales are scored from the same assessment instruments and are displayed on profiles normed on the same national samples. Psychometric properties were similar for both kinds of scales. Associations between counterpart scales were medium to strong. Quantified, normed DSM-oriented and empirically based scales scored from the same instruments can facilitate assessment of individuals, statistical analyses for research purposes, and integration of top-down and bottom-up approaches to deriving constructs for psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]