In this first wave of a prospective study, we examined a range of ECFs, forms of impulsivity, and externalizing and associated internalizing problems as correlates of general risk taking tendencies in a community sample of pre-adolescents ages 10 to 12. We also assessed a wide range of risky behaviors, including drug use, gambling, and fighting. Our interest in studying the inter-relationships among several different forms of ECF, impulsivity, externalizing behavior, and risk behavior led us to adopt structural equation modeling (SEM) as the analytic strategy (Kaplan, 2000). This approach permits one to measure factors common to different assessments that nevertheless reflect the same theoretic processes and to test hypothesized relationships between those factors. The method also permits tests of alternative models for explaining relationships between factors (see Miyake, Friedman, Rettinger, Shah, & Hegarty, 2001, for a similar approach).
