Abstract
There is increasing evidence that youth who follow the early onset persistent (EOP), adolescent-onset (AO) and childhood-limited (CL) trajectories of conduct problems show varying patterns of health, mental health, educational, and social outcomes in adulthood. However, there has been no systematic review and meta-analysis on outcomes associated with different conduct problems trajectories. We systematically reviewed the literature of longitudinal studies considering outcomes of three conduct problems trajectories: EOP, AO, and CL compared with individuals with low levels of conduct problems (low). We performed a series of meta-analyses comparing each trajectory to the low group for eight different outcomes in early adulthood or later. Thirteen studies met our inclusion criteria. Outcomes were mental health (depression), cannabis use, alcohol use, self-reported aggression, official records of antisocial behaviour, poor general health, poor education, and poor employment. Overall, EOP individuals showed significant higher risk of poor outcome followed by AO individuals, CL individuals, and finally participants in the low group. All conduct problems trajectories showed higher risk of poor psychosocial outcomes compared to the low group, but the magnitude of risk differed across trajectories, with a general trend for the EOP to perform significantly worse, followed by the AO and CL. Early intervention is recommended across domains to maximise likelihood of desistance from antisocial behaviour and improvement on several psychosocial outcomes.
Highlights
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Conduct problems include disobeying rules, aggression, property destruction, stealing, and bullying [1]
We systematically reviewed the literature of longitudinal studies considering outcomes of three conduct problems trajectories: early onset persistent (EOP), AO, and CL compared with individuals with low levels of conduct problems
All conduct problems trajectories showed higher risk of poor psychosocial outcomes compared to the low group, but the magnitude of risk differed across trajectories, with a general trend for the EOP to perform significantly worse, followed by the AO and CL
Summary
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00787-017-1053-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Conduct problems include disobeying rules, aggression, property destruction, stealing, and bullying [1]. The EOP was thought to be associated with predisposing familial, neuropsychological deficits, and temperamental hyperactivity, which could interact with environmental factors to potentiate more severe and persistent behavioural problems and antisocial behaviour Those with onset in adolescence were thought to engage. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry in behavioural problems (of less aggressive nature) mainly through association with delinquent peers, and/or seeking social status through delinquent activities They were thought to be likely to desist from antisocial behaviour during late adolescence/early adulthood as they transition into adult roles and responsibilities [3], but more recent research has shown that in some cases, they continue to engage in undetected crimes and show substance use and internalising difficulties beyond adolescence [4, 5]
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