In this follow-up, the children moved into preadolescence or early adolescence, a time when problem behaviors often emerge. In general, we expected a similar pattern of findings when we examined stability versus change in symptoms over 4 (rather than 2) years. However, we hypothesized that prediction of maladjustment from negative emotionality might be even more evident, especially for internalizing children, as they increasingly experience negative social reactions for social withdrawal and their negative countenance. In addition, if EC is increasingly important to emotional and behavioral competence with age, it seemed possible that EC might be associated with change and stability in not only externalizing problems, but also internalizing problems, at T3. For example, children who experience a reduction in terms of internalizing problems might be expected to be higher in EC, especially attentional control, than those who develop more internalizing problems or remain high in internalizing problems. We expected high impulsivity to continue to be associated with sustained or increasing levels of externalizing problems, although it seemed possible that it would become less associated if EC increasingly was used to modulate overt expressions of impulsive tendencies.
