Childhood-onset versus adolescent-onset antisocial conduct problems in males: Natural history from ages 3 to 18 years

We report data that support the distinction between childhood-onset and adolescent-onset type conduct problems. Natural histories are described from a representative birth cohort of 457 males studied longitudinally from age 3 to 18 years. Childhood- and adolescent-onset cases differed on temperament as early as age 3 years, but almost half of childhood-onset cases did not become seriously delinquent. Type comparisons were consistent with our contention that males whose antisocial behavior follows a life-course-persistent path differ from males who follow an adolescence-limited path. As adolescents, the two types differed on convictions for violent crime, personality profiles, school leaving, and bonds to family. These differences can be attributed to developmental history because the two groups were well matched on measures of antisocial conduct at age 18 years: parent-reports, self-reports, and adjudication records. By age 18 years, many conduct-problem boys had encountered factors that could ensnare them in an antisocial future: substance dependence, unsafe sex, dangerous driving habits, delinquent friends, delinquent perceptions, and unemployment. Implications for theory, research design, prevention, and therapeutic treatment of conduct problems are highlighted.

[1]  T. Moffitt,et al.  Early family predictors of child and adolescent antisocial behaviour: Who are the mothers of delinquents? , 1993 .

[2]  C. Paul,et al.  Adolescents, sexual behaviour and implications for an epidemic of HIV/AIDS among the young. , 1993, Genitourinary medicine.

[3]  T. Moffitt.  Juvenile delinquency and attention deficit disorder: boys' developmental trajectories from age 3 to age 15. , 1990, Child development.

[4]  R. Jessor,et al.  Problem Behavior and Psychosocial Development: A Longitudinal Study , 1978 .

[5]  D. Farrington,et al.  Understanding and controlling crime , 1986 .

[6]  T. Achenbach.  Taxonomy and comorbidity of conduct problems: Evidence from empirically based approaches , 1993, Development and Psychopathology.

[7]  Jacob Cohen.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[8]  Crime and Personality. , 1978 .

[9]  Kenneth H. Rubin,et al.  The development and treatment of childhood aggression. , 1991 .

[10]  T. Moffitt,et al.  Measuring impulsivity and examining its relationship to delinquency. , 1994, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[11]  R. Mcgee,et al.  DSM-III disorders from age 11 to age 15 years. , 1992, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[12]  Terrie E. Moffitt,et al.  The neuropsychology of conduct disorder , 1993, Development and Psychopathology.

[13]  Personality traits are linked to crime among men and women: evidence from a birth cohort. , 1994 .

[14]  M. Rutter,et al.  Education, Health and Behaviour , 1970 .

[15]  J. Laub,et al.  Crime in the Making , 1993 .

[16]  T. Moffitt,et al.  The Causes of Crime: New Biological Approaches , 1987 .

[17]  Herbert C. Quay,et al.  Handbook of juvenile delinquency. , 1987 .

[18]  R. Loeber,et al.  Empirical evidence for overt and covert patterns of antisocial conduct problems: A metaanalysis , 1985, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[19]  A. Kazdin,et al.  Treatment of antisocial behavior in children: current status and future directions. , 1987, Psychological bulletin.

[20]  Malcolm W. Klein,et al.  Labeling Theory and Delinquency Policy , 1986 .

[21]  A. Blumstein,et al.  Characterizing Criminal Careers , 1987, Science.

[22]  John Desmond Langley,et al.  On the remembrance of things past': a longitudinal evaluation of the retrospective method , 1994 .

[23]  G W Rebok,et al.  The course and malleability of aggressive behavior from early first grade into middle school: results of a developmental epidemiologically-based preventive trial. , 1994, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[24]  Phil A. Silva,et al.  The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: a 15 year longitudinal study. , 1990, Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology.

[25]  Benjamin B. Lahey,et al.  Advances in Clinical Child Psychology , 1980, Advances in Clinical Child Psychology.

[26]  Adrian Raine,et al.  The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder , 1993 .

[27]  L. Robins.  Sturdy childhood predictors of adult antisocial behaviour: replications from longitudinal studies , 1978, Psychological Medicine.

[28]  J. D. Crowder.  Current Approaches to the Prediction of Violence , 1990 .

[29]  S. Mednick,et al.  Mental Disorder and Crime , 1992 .

[30]  K. Land,et al.  AGE, CRIMINAL CAREERS, AND POPULATION HETEROGENEITY: SPECIFICATION AND ESTIMATION OF A NONPARAMETRIC, MIXED POISSON MODEL* , 1993 .

[31]  H. Yoshikawa.  Prevention as cumulative protection: effects of early family support and education on chronic delinquency and its risks. , 1994, Psychological bulletin.

[32]  Phil A. Silva,et al.  NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS PREDICTING PERSISTENT MALE DELINQUENCY , 1994 .

[33]  H. Quay.  Personality Dimensions in Delinquent Males as Inferred from the Factor Analysis of Behavior Ratings , 1964 .

[34]  N. Morris,et al.  Crime and justice : an annual review of research , 1980 .

[35]  M. W. Klein.  The causes of crime: Watch out for that last variable , 1987 .

[36]  T. Moffitt,et al.  LIFE-COURSE TRAJECTORIES OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF OFFENDERS* , 1995 .

[37]  N L Segal,et al.  Personality similarity in twins reared apart and together. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[38]  A. Kazdin,et al.  Dropping out of child psychotherapy: distinguishing early and late dropouts over the course of treatment. , 1994, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[39]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[40]  Cloninger Cr.  A systematic method for clinical description and classification of personality variants: A proposal. , 1987 .

[41]  T. Moffitt.  Accommodating Self-Report Methods to a Low-Delinquency Culture: A Longitudinal Study from New Zealand , 1989 .

[42]  P. Silva,et al.  Factor structure and correlates of ratings of inattention, hyperactivity, and antisocial behavior in a large sample of 9-year-old children from the general population. , 1985, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[43]  Benjamin B. Lahey,et al.  Issues of taxonomy and comorbidity in the development of conduct disorder , 1993, Development and Psychopathology.

[44]  M. W. Klein,et al.  Cross-National Research in Self-Reported Crime and Delinquency , 1989 .

[45]  R. Mcgee,et al.  DSM-III-R Disorders in New Zealand 18-Year-Olds , 1994, The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry.

[46]  Michael Fendrich,et al.  DIMINISHED LIFETIME SUBSTANCE USE OVER TIME: AN INQUIRY INTO DIFFERENTIAL UNDERREPORTING , 1994 .

[47]  Phil A. Silva,et al.  DSM-III disorders in preadolescent children. Prevalence in a large sample from the general population. , 1987, Archives of general psychiatry.

[48]  J. Block,et al.  Adolescent drug use and psychological health. A longitudinal inquiry. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[49]  M. W. Klein,et al.  Offence specialisation and versatility among juveniles. , 1984 .

[50]  D. Elliott,et al.  Improving Self-Reported Measures of Delinquency , 1989 .

[51]  Phil A. Silva,et al.  Temperamental origins of child and adolescent behavior problems: from age three to age fifteen. , 1995, Child development.

[52]  Birth complications combined with early maternal rejection at age 1 year predispose to violent crime at age 18 years. , 1994 .

[53]  A. Pickles,et al.  Partners, peers, and pathways: Assortative pairing and continuities in conduct disorder , 1993, Development and Psychopathology.

[54]  M. Zuckerman,et al.  Personality in the third dimension: A psychobiological approach☆ , 1989 .

[55]  T. Moffitt.  Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. , 1993, Psychological review.