Aggression and Psychopathology in Childhood Firesetters: Parent and Child Reports

• NCJ Number: 110947
• Journal: Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Volume: 53 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1985) Pages: 377-385
• Author(s): D J Kolko; A E Kazdin; E C Meyer
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH35408; MH00353
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Philadelphia, December 1984.

Annotation

The present study compared hospitalized children identified as firesetters or nonfiresetters on several dimensions of aggressiveness and psychopathology.

Abstract

The study permitted separation of the influence of firesetting from a diagnosis of conduct disorder in contributing to the symptoms evinced by the children. Across all diagnoses, firesetters were found to engage in more delinquent and antisocial behaviors than nonfiresetters. Firesetters also evinced social skills deficits and a broad range of aggressive behaviors beyond their primary symptom. These results were obtained even when analyses were restricted to children who were diagnosed as conduct disorder. The findings elaborate on the clinical picture of firesetting children and suggest that firesetting may emerge late in a sequence of antisocial symptoms involving more extreme overt and covert acts. (Publisher abstract)