title: Four-year longitudinal study of conduct disorder in boys: patterns and predictors of persistence.
abstract: A prospective study of conduct disorder (CD) was conducted using 4 annual structured diagnostic interviews of 171 clinic-referred boys, their parents, and their teachers. Only about half of the 65 boys who met criteria for CD in Year 1 met criteria again during the next year, but 88% met criteria for CD again at least once during the next 3 years. For most boys with CD, the number of symptoms fluctuated above and below the diagnostic threshold from year to year but remained relatively high. Lower socioeconomic status, parental antisocial personality disorder (APD), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were significant correlates of CD in Year 1, but the interaction of parental APD and the boy's verbal intelligence predicted the persistence of CD symptoms over time (i.e., only boys without a parent with APD and with above-average verbal intelligence clearly improved).
authors.affiliation: U Chicago, Dept of Psychiatry, IL.
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Lahey
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Loeber
authors.forename: Elizabeth L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Hart
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Frick
authors.forename: Brooks
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Applegate
authors.forename: Quanwu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Stephanie M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Mary F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Russo
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors