In addition to child factors and parenting practices, negative school experiences, particularly problematic peer relations and academic difficulties, make key contributions to the escalation of child risk for the development of antisocial behavior. Contextual factors, such as family poverty, family instability, and other social factors disadvantageous to child development, such as number of siblings, criminal victimization of the family, and high residential mobility, add cumulatively to risk and interact with other factors to promote antisocial development ( Eckenrode, Rowe, Laird, & Braithwaite, 1995 McLoyd, 1990 Rutter & Giller, 1983). Escalating and aversive parent–child interactions, sometimes accompanied by physical abuse, model and reinforce child aggressive behaviors while failing to support more socially appropriate ways of resolving conflict ( Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1990 Snyder & Patterson, 1995). Child risk is increased by factors such as maternal substance abuse, nutritional deprivation, physical abuse, and lack of stimulation, which contribute to deficits in child executive functioning, language, and other cognitive skills ( Moffitt & Lynam, 1994). Types of parenting practices that have been closely associated with the development of child conduct problems include inconsistent and harsh discipline, low supervision and involvement, and inflexible rigid discipline ( Chamberlain, Reid, Ray, Capaldi, & Fisher, 1997). Patterson and colleagues (e.g., Patterson et al., 1992) have demonstrated that early discipline failures are a primary causal factor in the development of conduct problems. Parenting also plays a critical role in the developmental process. Child factors, particularly neuropsychological deficits that undermine executive functioning and contribute to high rates of child inattention and impulsivity, increase a child's risk for the development of conduct problems ( Moffitt, 1993). That is, the developmental model identifies risk factors to target in prevention and suggests the kinds of competencies that must be enhanced to move high-risk children into more adaptive developmental trajectories.Äevelopmentally, antisocial behavior is multiply determined. An empirically validated model aids in identifying a high-risk population-in this case, children who display conduct problems at home and at school around the age of school entry-and also provides a developmental framework to guide intervention activities. A model of the developmental pathways associated with early starting conduct problems provided the framework for the prevention design that is described later. The Fast Track program involves a developmentally based, long-term multicomponent, and multisite intervention, evaluated using a randomized design with a no-intervention control group and a comprehensive multimethod set of assessment strategies ( Cicchetti, 1984 Kazdin, 1987). Almost half of all youth who initiated serious violent acts before age 11 continued this kind of offending beyond age 20, twice the rate of those who began their violent careers at age 11 or 12 ( Elliott, 1994). For example, Richman, Stevenson, and Graham (1982) found that 62% of 3-year-olds with problems of impulsivity and oppositional behavior continued these problems through age 8. Early starting patterns of conduct problems are remarkably stable ( Farrington, Loeber, & Van Kammen, 1990). These children, termed life-course-persistent offenders by Moffitt and early starters by Patterson et al., represent approximately 6% of the general population but account for almost half of all adolescent crimes ( Wolfgang, Figlio, & Sellin, 1972). The model focuses on individuals who begin showing conduct problems in early childhood ( Moffitt, 1993 Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992). The Fast Track project design is based on a model of the development of antisocial behavior derived from developmental theory and longitudinal research ( Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1992). This article describes the initial results of a comprehensive multisite program (Fast Track) for preventing serious and persistent antisocial behavior among high-risk children. The seriousness of this problem has led to increased interest in finding effective programs for preventing antisocial behavior among adolescents. Homicide is now the leading cause of death among urban male teenagers ( Centers for Disease Control, 1991). The problem of juvenile crime has risen more than four-fold since the early 1970s ( Cook & Laub, 1997).
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