BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS IN CHILDHOOD AND STRESSORS IN EARLY ADULT LIFE .1. A 20-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF LONDON SCHOOL-CHILDREN

The research presented in this paper examined the relationship between the presence of childhood behaviour problems and the rate of life eve nts and difficulties in early adult life. Data are presented from a 20 year follow-up study of a sample of inner London school children firs t studied when they were aged 10. The key finding was that emotional o r behavioural disturbance in childhood was associated with a marked in crease in the rate of severely negative events and difficulties some t wo decades later. This increase was only obtained for stressors with s evere negative impact of the type shown in previous investigations to be associated with the onset of psychiatric disorder. Additional resul ts demonstrated that this main finding could not be accounted for by s tressors that were a result of adult psychiatric disorder, by the resp ondent's own behaviour, or by continuing association with the family o f origin. The need for a lifespan developmental approach to the well-e stablished stressor-illness link is discussed.