Independent Associations Between Dimensions of Externalizing Behavior in Toddlerhood and School-Age Academic Achievement Lauretta M. Brennan, Daniel S. Shaw, and Louis C. Cianni University of Pittsburgh INTRODUCTION Behavior-Achievement Link  Preschool and school-age externalizing behaviors are negatively associated with school-age academic achievement (Hinshaw, 1992)  “Externalizing” behaviors: aggression, oppositionality, inattention, and hyperactivity-impulsivity are also highly comorbid (Biederman et al., 1991)  Lack of research examining independent contributions of externalizing dimensions, particularly from early childhood Intervention  Early parenting practices have been linked to childhood externalizing behaviors (Patterson et al., 1992)  Random assignment to the Family Check-Up (FCU) parenting intervention has previously been shown to:  predict reduced growth of behavior problems from ages 2 to 4 in the current sample (Dishion et al., 2008)  indirectly improve language development through changes in parenting (Lunkenheimer et al., 2008) STUDY AIMS  Examine whether aggressive, oppositional, hyperactive- impulsive and inattentive behaviors in toddlerhood independently predict school-age academic achievement  Determine if random assignment to the FCU is indirectly associated with higher levels of academic achievement at school-age through decreases in externalizing behaviors  Fills gaps in existing literature with respect to:  Longitudinal work from early childhood  Examining individual components of ADHD  Potential for indirect effects of the FCU on achievement METHOD Participants  514 high-risk children participating in the ongoing longitudinal multi-site Early Steps Project with academic achievement data at age 7.5  Children (49% female) were 27% African American, 51% European American, 14% biracial, and 7% other races; 13% identified as Latino Procedure Data were collected at child ages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7.5. Intervention (Family Check-Up; FCU)  Brief intervention based on motivational interviewing techniques – typically 3 sessions  Provide feedback from annual assessment, elicit goals Measures  Aggression, oppositionality, hyperactivity-impulsivity, and inattention (ages 2, 3, 4, 5)  Items from the CBCL and Eyberg Problem Behavior Inventory matched with DSM criteria  Academic achievement (age 7.5)  Academic Skills composite from W-J Tests of Achievement: Letter-Word Identification, Math, and Spelling subtests RESULTS Summary  Age 2-3 aggression and hyperactivity-impulsivity were significantly correlated with age 7.5 Academic Skills; aggression was also associated with Letter-Word Identification  Only toddler-age aggression contributed unique variance to school-age Letter-Word Identification  FCU assignment was associated with greater decreases in aggression from ages 2-3 to 4-5  Indirect effect of FCU on Letter-Word Identification RESULTS CONT’D Externalizing Variables Predicting Letter-Word Identification Intervention Effects CONCLUSIONS  Toddler-age aggression was most consistently associated with age 7.5 academic achievement  Random assignment to the FCU indirectly improved achievement through changes in child aggression  Early childhood aggression is important to consider in conjunction with other risk factors for low school-age achievement Predictor BSEβ Child gender (F=1) PC education ** PC income * Minority status AGG (age 2-3) * OPP (age 2-3) H-I age (2-3) INATT (age 2-3) * p <.05, **p <.01; PC = primary caregiver. Acknowledgements: Thank you to all of the children and families who participated in the Early Steps Project. Research was supported by grant to Drs. Daniel S. Shaw, Thomas J. Dishion, and Melvin N. Wilson from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. For more information, please contact Lauretta M. Brennan, M.S.