A multidomain cascade model of early childhood risk factors associated with oppositional defiant disorder symptoms in a community sample of 6-year-olds

The present study examined a cascade model of age 4 and 5 contextual, parent, parenting, and child factors on symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) at age 6 in a diverse community sample of 796 children. Contextual factors include socioeconomic status, family stress, and conflict; parent factors included parental depression; parenting factors included parental hostility, support, and scaffolding skills; child factors included child effortful control (EC), negative affect (NA), and sensory regulation. Direct effects of age 5 conflict, hostility, scaffolding, EC, and NA were found. Significant indirect, cascading effects on age 6 ODD symptom levels were noted for age 4 socioeconomic status via age 5 conflict and scaffolding skills; age 4 parental depression via age 5 child NA; age 4 parental hostility and support via age 5 EC; age 4 support via age 5 EC; and age 4 attachment via age 5 EC. Parenting contributed to EC, and the age 5 EC effects on subsequent ODD symptom levels were distinct from age 5 parental contributions. Scaffolding and ODD symptoms may have a reciprocal relationship. These results highlight the importance of using a multidomain model to examine factors associated with ODD symptoms early in the child's grammar school years.