With children about the same age as those in the present study, Stieben et al. (2007) found neurological evidence of problems in attentional control for comorbid as well as pure externalizing children (they did not study pure internalizers). The children in the present study were approximately age 9 to turning 12 at T3; it is important to examine whether the relation of internalizing problems to attentional control deficits is evident in adolescence and whether there are sex differences in this pattern given the greater likelihood of depression for girls (Hankin et al., 1998). Moreover, further work is needed to determine whether patterns of change in attentional EC are more predictive of internalizing problems in late childhood/early adolescence than are mean levels of EC.
