Designing and Testing a Model of Some Precedents and Consequences of Oppositional Defiant Disorder in High School Students

Abstract

Background: Previous research has demonstrated that oppositional defiant disorder is a strong predictor of mental illness that causes significant distress for adolescents, who manifest this disorder and pose remarkable costs for the society. Objectives: The aim of this study was to design and test a model of some antecedents (secure attachment and insecure attachment, early trauma, behavioral activation system, behavioral inhibition system, schema, emotion regulation, and callous-unemotional) and consequences (aggression, conduct disorder, educational performance, and vandalism) of oppositional defiant disorder. Methods: The sample consisted of 320 high school students of Dezfoul, who were selected by multistage random sampling. The instruments included the oppositional defiant behavioral inventory, revised adult scale (RAAS), Early Trauma Inventory, Carver and White Behavioral Activation System/Behavioral Inhibition system, Young’s Schema Questionnaire - Short Form, difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), Callous-Unemotional trait inventory, Boss and Perry aggression questionnaire, child behavior checklist (CBCL), and questionnaire of vandalism. Structural equation modeling through AMOS 22 and SPSS 22 were used for data analysis. Results: Results showed that the model with some modification had good fit with the data and model indicators (χ 2/df = 3.24, GFI= 0.90, RMSEA= 0.07) improved. Six out of 20 direct paths were not significant, and were omitted from the model. Two out of nine indirect paths were omitted and the rest of the paths were confirmed. Conclusions: The results showed that the model fitted the data with some amendments.