Good Girls? Bad Boys? Gender and Development as Contexts for Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Focuses on issues relevant to the expression of externalizing (antisocial) and internalizing (depressive) problems in boys and girls from early to late adolescence. The implications of gender are considered for the identification of problem behaviors and related intervention strategies. The research findings from 2 ongoing studies are presented. Data from Study 1 (110 Ss, 58 females and 52 males, mean age 16.5 yrs) is from 2 overlapping studies: an epidemiologic study of adolescent depression (P. M. Lewinsohn et al, 1993); and a study of familial interactions in a subset of the same sample. Study 2 focuses on multiagent and multimethod baseline data for an identified risk sample of early adolescents (61 girls and 58 boys) and their parents in the Adolescent Transitions Program (T. J. Dishion, 1986). The treatment focus should be on differential repertoire building to arm both genders with the skills and abilities of the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)