Social-Ecological Antecedents of Oppositional-Defiant Behavior in U.S. Schools: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample of Early Adolescents

This study examines social-ecological antecedents of oppositional-defiant school behavior among early adolescents in the U.S. (ages 12–14; n = 733). Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the sample was drawn from the mother-child dataset, which included youth who, in the first of two years in the study (2002 or 2004), were living with their mothers and were enrolled in school. Participants had to have responded to at least one of the 13 items from a self-administered survey and their mothers had to have responded to at least one of the two items measuring oppositional-defiant school behavior in Time 1 (2002 or 2004; age 10 or 12) and Time 2 (2004 or 2006; age 12 or 14). Male sex, oppositional-defiant school behavior in Time 1, lack of cognitive stimulation, and negative peer influence were associated with oppositional-defiant school behavior in Time 2. The implications for practice from this study are discussed.