Risk Factors For Conduct Disorder Research Articles

Risk Factors for Conduct Disorder and Oppositional/Defiant Disorder

Risk Factors for Conduct Disorder and Oppositional/Defiant Disorder

Risk Factors for Conduct Disorder and Delinquency: Key Findings from Longitudinal Studies

Conduct disorder (CD) and delinquency are behavioural problems involving violation of major rules, societal norms, and laws. The prevalence of CD and delinquency peaks in mid-to-late adolescence. Both show considerable continuity over time. The most important studies of CD and delinquency have prospective longitudinal designs, large community samples, repeated personal interviews, measures of many possible risk factors, and both self-reports and official measures of antisocial behaviour. The most important risk factors that predict CD and delinquency include impulsiveness, low IQ and low school achievement, poor parental supervision, punitive or erratic parental discipline, cold parental attitude, child physical abuse, parental conflict, disrupted families, antisocial parents, large family size, low family income, antisocial peers, high delinquency rate schools, and high crime neighbourhoods. However, for many risk factors, it is not known whether they have causal effects. Future research should examine changes in risk factors and changes in CD and delinquency to identify the risk factors that are causes and those that are merely markers of other risk mechanisms.

Risk Factors for Conduct Disorder and Oppositional/Defiant Disorder: Evidence from a New Zealand Birth Cohort

To examine the social, family background, and individual antecedents of conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), the extent to which CD and ODD symptoms were predicted by common environmental risk factors, and the extent to which the antecedents of CD and ODD accounted for the comorbidity between the two disorders. Data were gathered from 926 members of a New Zealand longitudinal birth cohort. The outcome measures were DSM-IV symptom count measures of CD and ODD at age 14 to 16 years. Predictors measured during the period from 0 to 14 years included the following: maternal smoking during pregnancy; exposure to socioeconomic adversity; parental maladaptive behavior; childhood exposure to abuse and interparental violence; gender; cognitive ability; and affiliation with deviant peers in early adolescence. Associations between the predictors and outcome measures were modeled using structural equation modeling. The analyses showed that each of the predictors was significantly (p < .05) associated with CD and ODD, with the exception of gender and ODD. After model fitting, the profile of risk factors that predicted CD and ODD were largely similar. The analyses revealed that approximately 40% of the comorbidity between disorders could be accounted for by common factors. The data showed that CD and ODD had largely similar social and environmental antecedents. One implication of this finding is that treatment and prevention approaches that are developed for use with a particular behavior disorder may in fact reduce the incidence of both disorders.

Victimization History as a Risk Factorfor Conduct Disorder Behaviors:Exploring Connections in a National Sample of Youth

This longitudinal secondary analysis examined the relationship between victimization exposure and conduct disorder behavior in youth. Using the Ecological Model, it was hypothesized that victimization exposure in youth, age 11, would be associated with self-reported conduct disorder behavior at that same age, and that both would be predictive of conduct disorder behavior at age 18. Participants (N = 197) were youth, age 11, who were part of a national probability panel study—The National Youth Survey (NYS). Data from Wave I (1976) and Wave VI (1983) from the NYS were used to identify youth with conduct disorder (CD) behavior and victimization experiences. The data were analyzed with multiple regression using the independent variables: conduct disorder behavior, victimization, ethnicity, gender, and family income. The results showed that victimization in the prior year was a significant factor in predicting conduct disorder behavior in 11-year-old youth, by explaining 26% of the variance of CD behavior. Mo...