title: The structure, stability and correlations of the trait components of conduct disorder, attention deficit and anxiety/withdrawal reports.
abstract: A general model for describing the structure of multiple trait measures reported by multiple sources and observed at multiple times is developed. This model is applied to data on conduct disorder/oppositional behaviour, attention deficit and anxiety/withdrawal reported by three sources (child, mother, teacher) at three ages (8, 10 and 12 years) for a birth cohort of 1265 New Zealand children. This model was shown to fit the observed data adequately. The major conclusions of the analysis were: (a) reports of child behaviour derived from a specific source at a given time were of limited validity as measures of the child's behavioural tendencies; (b) reports of child behaviour derived from the same source were subject to correlated errors of measurement; (c) there was evidence of strong correlations (r = .80-.85) between conduct disorder/oppositional behaviour and attention deficit and weaker correlations (r = .30) between externalising traits and anxiety/withdrawal; and (d) when due allowance was made for errors of measurement in the report data, conduct disorder/oppositional behaviour, attention deficit and anxiety/withdrawal emerged as having very high stability across measurement periods. The implications of the results for a range of issues relating to the validity of report data, the interpretation of inter-informant correlations, the correlation/comorbidity of child behaviour problems and the stability of behaviour are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Christchurch Health and Developmental Study, Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Fergusson
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Horwood
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics