L5: Externalizing Behaviours Flashcards
(20 cards)
Define and describe externalizing problems
Externalizing problems: problems that cause difficulties in an individual’s external world
* Undercontrolled - behaviours arise due to lower self control, potentially due to lower parental monitoring/control
* Higher prevalence in males
* Externalizing behaviours are usually normative for adolescence. It provides a sense of fun, excitement, socializing, and belonging
Define and describe internalizing problems
Internalizing problems: problems that affect an individual’s internal world
* Overcontrolled - personalities are often overcontrolling and self-punishing
* Higher prevalence in females
Contrast internalizing and externalizing problems
Distress:
* Externalizing - distressing to others
* Internalizing - distressing to the individual
Severity:
* Externalizing - can be indicative of clinical issues but is often normative in adolescence
* Internalizing - usually indicative of clinical issues
Problematic:
* Externalizing - problematic to others
* Internalizing - problematic to self
Describe socialization sources of externalizing problems
Family structure
* Divorce
* Single-parenting
* Step-families
Family Processes
* Parent-parent conflicts
* Child-parent conflicts
* Low parental monitoring
Parenting Style
* Any parenting style other than authoritative
Friends
* Selection effects - choosing friends with similar attitudes towards risky behaviour
School
* Disorderly school climate
Neighbourhood
* Unstable - residents come and go
* Lack of trust
Media
* Depictions of risky behaviours being rewarded or not having negative consequences
Legal System
* Focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation
* Ethnic discrimination
Cultural Beliefs
* Broad socialization
List family sources of externalizing problems
Family structure
* Divorce
* Single-parenting
* Step-families
Family Processes
* Parent-parent conflicts
* Child-parent conflicts
* Low parental monitoring
Parenting Style
* Any parenting style other than authoritative
List wider community sources of externalizing problems
Friends
* Selection effects - choosing friends with similar attitudes towards risky behaviour
School
* Disorderly school climate
Neighbourhood
* Unstable - residents come and go
* Lack of trust
List societal sources of externalizing problems
Media
* Depictions of risky behaviours being rewarded or not having negative consequences
Legal System
* Focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation
* Ethnic discrimination
Cultural Beliefs
* Broad socialization
List individual sources of externalizing problems
- Gender (male)
- Ethnicity
- Aggressiveness
- High sensation seeking
- Cognitive deficits
- Low impulse control
- Optimism bias
List different purposes behind substance use
- Experimental
- Social
- Medicinal
- Addictive
Define experimental substance use
Trying substance once or perhaps a few times out of curiosity
Define social substance use
Use of substances in the course of social activities with one or more friends
Define medicinal substance use
Substance use undertaken for the purpose of relieving an unpleasant (emotional) state
Define addictive substance use
Pattern of substance use in which a person has come to present on regular use of substances to feel good physically and psychologically
Explain Osgood’s Theory of Unstructured Socializing
- All (deviant) behaviour is based on sufficient propensity and opportunity
- Substance use is a form of goal-driven behaviour. Adolescents put greater value on social activities/status, so the perceived benefits of substance use outweigh the risks.
- Unstructured socializing: term for young people spending time together with no specific event as the center of their activity
- There is a higher rate of substance use amongst adolescents/emerging adults because they have high rates of unstructured socialization with their friends, which provides opportunity
- Rates of substance use decline in the late 20s because role transitions cause a decrease in the amount of unstructured socializing
Provide benefits and limitations of Osgood’s Theory of Unstructured Socialization
Benefits:
* Explains externalizing behaviours from a socialization-oriented perspective
* Accounts for why people engage in externalizing behaviour
* Explains why externalizing behaviours peak in adolescence/early adulthood
Limitations:
* Theory does not apply to more severe cases of externalizing problems, especially addictive substance use
* Does not explain life-course persistent and late-onset trajectories
Describe problems with delinquency interventions
- Peer contagion: increase in delinquent behaviour because adolescents find new people to reinforce and engage with in delinquent behaviour during interventions
- Participants have to take part against their will
- Interventions often happen when a pattern of delinquency has already been established
Explain Moffitt’s Taxonomy of Externalizing Behaviours
- There are two types of delinquency, each with different sources and motivations:
Life-course persistent delinquents (LCPDs): adolescents with a history of delinquency both prior to and after adolescence - Problems occur from birth onwards
- Problems originate from neuropsychological deficits, evident in difficult temperament and a higher risk of developing ADHD and LD
- More likely to grow up in high risk environments
- Criminal activities continue into adulthood
Adolescence-limited delinquency (ALDs): adolescents who engage in criminal activity during adolescence but show no evidence of problems before or after these periods - Problems originate from socialization processes
Describe evidence for Moffitt’s Taxonomy of Externalizing Behaviour
- The age of onset for ALD and LCDP is actually similar
- Suggests there is a third group of late-onset delinquents
Explain two methods for researching substance use in adolescents
1) Longitudinal cross-lagged analysis (transactional models)
* Self-report
* Does not take into account any real life considerations (e.g., in what contexts is the substance used?)
* Yield small effects (minimal explained variance)
2) Experimental design
* Low ecological validity
* Ethical issues with observing substance use in adolescents
What are considerations to take into account when researching substance use in adolescence?
- Sample - clinical or general population?
- Do people provide honest answers?
- How reliable are answers? (important when studying cognition-altering substances)
- What scales of measurement should you use?
