Childhood Behavioral Profiles Leading to Adolescent Conduct Disorder: Risk Trajectories for Boys and Girls

• NCJ Number: 196727
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 41 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 1086-1094
• Author(s): Sylvana Cote Ph.D.; Richard E. Tremblay Ph.D.; Daniel S. Nagin Ph.D.; Mark Zoccolillo M.D.; Frank Vitaro Ph.D.
• Date Published: September 2002
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article discusses a study that examined whether elementary school boys and girls with combinations of hyperactivity, fearfulness, and helpfulness (unique behavioral dimensions) were at different levels of risk for conduct disorder (CD) when assessed at 16 years of age.

Abstract

Several theories have proposed that individual differences in behavioral dispositions (hyperactivity, fearlessness, lack of empathy, callousness, and others) could explain the continuity in conduct problems. Different theories suggest that combinations of behavioral dispositions could produce distinct subtypes of CD children. Several studies suggest that children with combinations of three behavioral dispositions (one study cited hyperactivity, low fear, and low reward dependence) risk future antisocial behavior. However, questions remain about these studies. It is unclear whether children with three behavioral dimensions are more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior than are children exhibiting only two or one dimensions. Also, the studies focus almost exclusively on males. This study examined how elementary school boys and girls with distinct combinations of hyperactivity, fearfulness, and helpfulness were at different levels of risk for CD when assessed at 16 years of age. First, participants were selected from a large sample of boys and girls (516 boys and 444 girls) attending kindergarten in Quebec. Using teacher ratings, the study placed the students in different categories: hyperactive, not fearless, not unhelpful; Hyperactive, fearless, not unhelpful; hyperactive, not fearless, unhelpful; hyperactive, fearless, unhelpful; not hyperactive, fearless, not unhelpful; not hyperactive, fearless, unhelpful; not hyperactive, not fearless, unhelpful; and not hyperactive, not fearless, not unhelpful. The study found that a specific combination of dimensions was necessary to predict CD in girls -- hyperactive, not fearless, unhelpful. The study found that boys, on the other hand, were at risk when one behavioral dimension was present -- hyperactivity. The study could not explain why high hyperactivity during elementary school was a sufficient CD risk for boys and not for girls. Tables, figures, references