Does Social Competence in Preschoolers Predict Psychopathology Symptoms in Childhood and Adolescence?

A large body of research has examined if early psychopathology symptoms predict continued social difficulties into adolescence; however, few studies have examined whether early social competence predict which children will develop and maintain psychopathology symptoms across childhood and adolescence. Utilizing the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development dataset, this study included a multi-method assessment of social competence in preschoolers and examined whether these social competency measures predicted internalizing and externalizing psychopathology symptom trajectories throughout childhood and adolescence. Additionally, it examined whether social competency measures predicted narrowband measures of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, depression, and psychopathy in 3rd - 9th grade. Exploratory factory analyses could not identify underlying factors among the social competency measures; as such, these were examined individually. Two to four classes were identified using Growth Mixture Modeling for parent- and teacher-reported internalizing and externalizing trajectories. Generally, children who had worse preschool social competence were more likely to be in the various moderate and high psychopathology symptom trajectory classes. Some measures of social competency were predictive of parent and teacher-reported ADHD and ODD and self-reported psychopathy, with differing relations for males and females; no measures were predictive of self-reported depression. This study has important implications with regard to early identification of and intervention for at-risk youth. Identifying these youth during the preschool years can result in improved developmental trajectories and significantly decreased societal costs.