Theoretical perspectives
Preschool behavior problems are influenced by both biological
and environmental factors, as manifest in individual differences
in child characteristics (e.g., temperamental dimensions of
activity, sociability, attention) and the quality of the caregiv-
ing environment. Genetic and prenatal environmental factors
are influential in this age period (see chapters 23 and 30). We
distinguish between
risk factors
, in the presence of which the
probability of showing a disorder is raised;
precursors
, where
there is continuity between an early problem (e.g., preschoo