Understanding Girls' Problem Behavior

Understanding Girls' Problem Behavior presents an overview of recent studies by leading researchers into key aspects of the development of problem behavior in girls.

• Integrates interdisciplinary research into girls’ problem behaviors (e.g. aggression, antisocial behavior, rule breaking)
• Unique in seeking to understand girls' problem behaviors in their own right
• Follows the maturing girl from adolescence to adulthood, concluding at the point where she herself becomes a parent and forms new relationships
• Gives attention to the critical contexts of problem behavior development—society and neighborhood, as well as family and peer contexts

About the Editors ix

List of Contributors xi

Acknowledgements xv

Introduction: Girls’ Problem Behavior: From the What to the Why 1
Geertjan Overbeek and Anna-Karin Andershed

PART 1: MATURITY AND HEALTH 9

1 A Contextual Amplification Hypothesis: Pubertal Timing and Girls’ Emotional and Behavioral Problems 11
Xiaojia Ge, Misaki N. Natsuaki, Run Jin, and Michael C. Biehl

2 Fits and Misfits: How Adolescents’ Representations of Maturity Relate To Their Adjustment 31
Lauree C. Tilton-Weaver, Fumiko Kakihara, Sheila K. Marshall, and Nancy L. Galambos

3 Physical Health in Adolescent Girls with Antisocial Behavior 69
Kathleen Pajer, Andrea Lourie, and Lisa Leininger

PART 2: CO-OCCURRING PROBLEMS 95

4 Using Girls’ Voices and Words to Study Their Problems 97
Joanne Belknap, Emily Gaarder, Kristi Holsinger, Cathy McDaniels Wilson, and Bonnie Cady

5 Developmental Comorbidity of Depression and Conduct Problems in Girls 117
Kate Keenan, Xin Feng, Dara Babinski, Alison Hipwell, Amanda Hinze, Rolf Loeber, and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber

PART 3: GIRLS’ PROBLEM BEHAVIOR AND RELATIONSHIPS 139

6 Deviancy Training in a Sample of High-Risk Adolescent Girls in The Netherlands 141
Annika K. E. de Haan, Geertjan Overbeek, Karin S. Nijhof, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels

7 Girls’ Aggressive Behavior Problems: A Focus on Relationships 165
Debra Pepler, Jennifer Connolly, Wendy Craig, and Depeng Jiang

8 Attachment and Aggression: From Paradox to Principles of Intervention to Reduce Risk of Violence in Teens 185
Marlene M. Moretti and Ingrid Obsuth

9 The Transfer of Developmental and Health Risk from Women with Histories of Aggressive Behavior to Their Children: Recent Results from the Concordia Longitudinal Project 207
Lisa A. Serbin, Dale M. Stack, Michele Hubert, Alex E. Schwartzman, and Jane Ledingham

Index 231

"This volume offers a valuable international perspective on understanding key aspects of girls' behavior problems - more prevalent than usually believed, but studied less than that of boys." (Booknews, 1 June 2011) Margaret Kerr is Professor of Psychology at Örebro University, Sweden.

Håkan Stattin is Professor of Psychology at Uppsala and Örebro Universities, Sweden.

Rutger C.M.E. Engels is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Geertjan Overbeek is Associate Professor at the Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Anna-Karin Andershed is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Örebro University, Sweden.

In recent years there has been a disturbing increase in both the prevalence and severity of girls’ problem behavior. Yet our knowledge regarding the development of antisocial behavior remains focused almost exclusively on boys and men. Fortunately, solid research into problem behavior in girls – a field that was virtually non-existent before the 1970s – is finally gaining ground.

Understanding Girls' Problem Behavior presents a collection of recent studies that are shaping our understanding of the development of problem behavior in girls. Most chapters feature longitudinal data and a focus on theory development. They include studies that begin with the maturing girl, follow her through adolescence to adulthood, and conclude when she herself becomes a parent. The processes involved in initiating, establishing, and potentially overcoming problem behavior are vividly illustrated through new findings and theories from fields including clinical psychology, sociology, developmental psychology and criminology.

Offering rich insights from leading international scholars, Understanding Girls’ Problem Behavior is sure to inspire further advances in a critical new field of contemporary research.