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Interpersonal Relationships and the Development of Behavior Problems in Adolescents in Urban Schools: A Longitudinal Study

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trajectories of behavioral problems for a sample of predominately minority adolescents (n = 212, 91% African-American and/or Hispanic, 45% boys, 55% girls) in a large, urban school district and to determine the impact of parental and peer relationships, gender, and risk status on their development during middle and high school. Multi-level growth modeling was the primary statistical procedure used to track internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems across time. Results indicated that behavioral problems as rated by students’ teachers declined significantly for both boys and girls, a finding that is in direct contrast to previous studies of adolescent behavior. The quality of parental relationships was a strong predictor of both types of behavior whereas the quality of peer relationships predicted only internalizing behavioral symptoms. These findings suggest that behavioral trajectories may be somewhat unique for this population underscoring the need for additional research in this area. The findings also have implications for intervening with children and youth who display behavioral problems during critical developmental periods.

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Notes

  1. Although it may seem unnatural to center binary predictor variables, the effect of doing so is the same as in the continuous case (Enders and Tofighi in press). Because the centered variables are level-2 predictors, only the value of the intercept is affected by centering. The rationale for centering all level-2 predictors is that the estimates of the mean intercept and slope are roughly the same across analyses, and are unaffected by the inclusion of predictor variables.

  2. Interaction terms between relationship quality and risk status were also explored, but these effects were non-significant. Because these interactions were of less substantive interest, they were removed from the final analysis model.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grant No. H324C010091 from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education. Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the position of the U.S. Department of Education. The authors are grateful to the school personnel and students in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools for their cooperation and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami, P.O. Box 248065, Coral Gables, FL, 33124, USA

    Marjorie Montague, Wendy Cavendish & Samantha Dietz

  2. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Craig Enders

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  1. Marjorie Montague
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  2. Wendy Cavendish
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  3. Craig Enders
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  4. Samantha Dietz
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Correspondence to Marjorie Montague.

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Montague, M., Cavendish, W., Enders, C. et al. Interpersonal Relationships and the Development of Behavior Problems in Adolescents in Urban Schools: A Longitudinal Study. J Youth Adolescence 39, 646–657 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9440-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9440-x

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