Reciprocal Influences Between Stressful Life Events and Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Kee Jeong Kim, Rand D. Conger, Glen H. Elder Jr., and Frederick O. Lorenz Investigated in this study were hypothesized reciprocal influences between stressful life events and adolescent maladjustment using data from a 6-year, prospective longitudinal study. Stressful life experiences, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors were assessed for a sample of adolescents (215 males, 236 females) living in the rural Midwest. From 7th to 12th grades, autoregressive analyses showed that stressful life events and these two forms of maladjustment were reciprocally interrelated over time. For example, stressful life events at one point significantly predicted delinquent behaviors 1 year later, which, in turn, significantly predicted stressful life events 1 year later, and vice versa. The findings provide evidence for the accumulating disadvantage for adolescents that results from the mutual reinforcement of problematic situations and adjustment problems over time. Research evidence suggests that cumulative life stresses increase risk for emotional and behavioral problems (Aneshensel, 1992; Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1995; Compas & Phares, 1991; Jackson & Warren, 2000; Kessler, Gillis-Light, Magee, Kendler, & Eaves, 1997). Consistent with the social-causation hypothesis, these studies suggest that social condi- tions (i.e., stressful life events) influence variability in subsequent developmental problems (Caspi, 1998; Conger, 1995, 1997; Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1969). With regard to conduct problems or antisocial behavior, some studies have demonstrated a link between specific, serious traumatic events such as child abuse or environmental catastrophes and subsequent behavioral problems (e.g., Stouthamer- Loeber, Loeber, Homish, & Wei, 2001; Thornberry, Ireland, & Smith, 2001); however, research using general additive indices of social stress to predict externalizing problems over time has been rare (e.g., Aseltine, Gore, & Gordon, 2000). And although the association between life stress and adolescent de- pressed and anxious mood is fairly well established (e.g., Compas & Phares, 1991; Menaghan, 1999), there is less evidence that stressful life events actually predict change in internalizing problems over time. To further understanding of the link between life stress and adolescent maladjustment, a first goal of the present study was to examine the degree to which stressful life events predict change in both externalizing and internalizing problems during early, middle, and late adolescence. A singular focus on social causation, however, ignores the important competing hypothesis that emotional or behavioral problems lead to increasing life stress (Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1987; Compas & Phares, 1991; Ensel & Lin, 1991). That is, contem- porary theory suggests that emotional and behavior- al problems may reduce social and instrumental competencies and thus increase risk for crises in social relationships and instrumental activities. This proposed direction of effects has been called the social-selection hypothesis (Caspi, 1998; Conger, 1995, 1997; Ensel & Lin, 1991). For example, adolescents who are extremely sad and withdrawn (internaliz- ing symptoms) may be unsuccessful in social rela- tions because they are unrewarding companions. Moreover, aggressive adolescents (externalizing problems) may be too mercurial to be reliable friends. These types of symptoms would also jeo- pardize school achievement, which requires focus, energy, and the regulation of competing emotions. When evidence for both social causation and social r 2003 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2003/7401-0009 Kee Jeong Kim and Rand D. Conger, Department of Human and Community Development, University of California–Davis; Glen H. Elder Jr., Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill; Frederick O. Lorenz, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University. During the past several years, support for this research has come from multiple sources, including the National Institute of Mental Health (MH00567, MH19734, MH43270, MH48165, and MH51361), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA05347), the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health (MCJ-109572), the Ma- cArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Adolescent Development Among Youth in High-Risk Settings, and the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station (Project No. 3320). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kee Jeong Kim, Department of Human and Community Devel- opment, University of California–Davis, 202 Cousteau Place, Suite 100, Davis, CA 95616. Electronic mail may be sent to keekim@uc- davis.edu. Child Development, January/February 2003, Volume 74, Number 1, Pages 127–143