Question for DSM-V: Which Better Predicts Persistent Conduct Disorder--Delinquent Acts or Conduct Symptoms?

• NCJ Number: 197700
• Journal: Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 37-52
• Author(s): Jeffrey D. Burke; Rolf Loeber; John S. Mutchka; Benjamin B. Lahey
• Editor(s): John Gunn, Pamela J. Taylor, David Farrington, Mary McMurran
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: This is a special issue on the Pittsburgh Longitudinal Studies of Crime and Psychopathology; see NCJ-197699 and NCJ-197701-704 for additional articles.

Annotation

This study attempted to examine which factors in childhood predicted a persistent diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD) in adolescence and whether self-reported delinquent acts enhanced the utility of symptoms of CD in predicting later persistent CD.

Abstract

Despite advances in recent years, our understanding of persistent disruptive behavior remains limited. This study was driven by the following questions: (1) how well do childhood measures of conduct disorder (CD) and delinquency predict later persistent CD; (2) what other individual, familial, or environmental factors in childhood predict later persistent CD; (3) are any relationships between childhood CD and delinquency and later persistent CD better explained by the influence of these other individual or environmental factors; and (4) are intrinsic or extrinsic factors more predominant among these predictors? Data were collected as part of the Developmental Trends Study (DTS). Study participants included 177 males, beginning at age 12, recruited through clinic referrals at sites in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Results showed 48 participants with persistent CD between the ages of 13 and 17. During childhood, 77 met CD criteria by parent report and 69 by child report. In addition, there were 36 participants defined as delinquent during childhood based on self-report. In summation, self-reported delinquency predicted persistent CD better than parent-reported CD, and that self-reported delinquency contributed uniquely to the prediction of CD after child-reported CD and other predictors were accounted for. A recommendation suggests future examination of whether the prediction of persistent CD is improved through the use of a broader assessment of CD-like delinquent behaviors or whether delinquency represents a separate and distinct process serving to add to the prediction of persistent CD. References.