title: Childhood Predictors of Criminal Offending: Results From a 19-Year Longitudinal Epidemiological Study of Boys.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the relative contribution of hyperactivity, conduct, and emotional problems in predicting criminal offending.
  
  
  METHODS
  In all, 173 boys aged 6 to 8 years (assessed for hyperactivity, conduct, and emotional problems) were followed up 19 years later by examining criminal offense histories.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant main effects for total and violent convictions were found, the strongest being for violent criminal offenses. Conduct problems predicted general offending (irrespective of the type of conviction), whereas emotional problems were the single best predictor of violent convictions. Hyperactivity was not a significant predictor in the models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings provide insight into the developmental mechanisms that mediate criminal behavior by showing that childhood emotional problems independently contribute to the risk of violent offending in later life.
authors.affiliation: King's College London, De Crespigny Park, UK Broadmoor Hospital, West London Mental Health Trust, UK susan.young@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: King's College London, De Crespigny Park, UK.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: King's College London, De Crespigny Park, UK Broadmoor Hospital, West London Mental Health Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Gisli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gudjonsson
mesh_terms: D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male