Conduct Problems in Childhood and Psychosocial Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Abstract

The associations between parental and teacher reports of conduct problems at age 8 and a range of psychosocial outcomes at age 18 (e.g., educational achievement, juvenile offending, substance abuse/dependence, mental health problems) were examined in a birth cohort of New Zealand children. Young people who showed conduct problems at age 8 had elevated rates of educational underachievement, juvenile offending, substance abuse/dependence, and mental health problems at age 18. Adjustment for a range of confounding factors, including social disadvantage, attentional difficulties, and IQ, substantially reduced the associations between early conduct problems and educational outcomes at age 18. However, after adjustment for confounding factors, young people with conduct problems at age 8 had higher rates of juvenile offending, substance abuse/dependence, and mental health problems at age 18. Subsequent analyses that examined factors contributing to continuities and discontinuities in behavior identified poor parental attachment, early substance use behaviors, and the extent to which the individual affiliated with delinquent or substance-using peers during adolescence as being associated with continuities in disruptive behaviors.