When there seem to be no predetermining factors: Early child and proximal family risk predicting externalizing behavior in young children incurring no distal family risk.

The main objective of the current study was to examine the impact of two child risk
factors, i.e. personality and inhibition, and two proximal family risk factors, i.e. parenting
and attachment, and the impact of their cumulative effect on later externalizing behavior
among young children incurring no distal family risk. Data were collected in a longitudinal
two-wave design from 161 non-referred and referred children aged three to five years at
the onset of the study. All of the children were raised in families of middle to high socioeconomic
status, i.e. their parents were educated to a middle to high level, had access to
the job market and lived together as couples. The four risk domains were assessed at the
onset of the study, while EB was rated both at the onset of the study and in the 24-month
follow-up. Results confirmed that the four risk domains were each both correlates of EB
and efficient at discriminating non-referred from referred children; that their combination
regardless of their content (cumulative risk) provided a strong prediction of both later EB
and non-referred vs referred sample membership. The results are discussed both for
research and clinical purposes.