title: The path from childhood behavioural disorders to felony offending: Investigating the role of adolescent drinking, peer marginalisation and school failure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although a pathway from childhood behavioural disorders to criminal offending is well established, the aetiological processes remain poorly understood. Also, it is not clear if attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is predictive of crime in the absence of comorbid disruptive behaviour disorder (DBD).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We examined two research questions: (1) Does ADHD have a unique effect on the risk of criminal offending, independently of DBD? (2) Is the effect of childhood behavioural disorders on criminal offending direct or mediated by adolescent processes related to school experience, substance misuse and peers?
  
  
  METHODS
  Structural equation modelling, with latent variables, was applied to longitudinally collected data on 4644 men from the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both ADHD and DBD separately predicted felony conviction risk. Most of these effects were mediated by adolescent alcohol use and low academic performance. The effect of DBD was stronger and included a direct pathway to criminal offending.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings were more consistent with the life course mediation hypothesis of pathways into crime than the behavioural continuity path, in that the effects of each disorder category were mediated by heavy drinking and educational failure. Preventing these adolescent risk outcomes may be an effective approach to closing pathways to criminal behaviour amongst behaviourally disordered children. However, as there was some evidence of a direct pathway from DBD, effective treatments targeting this disorder are also expected to reduce criminal offending.
authors.affiliation: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 321 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0561, USA.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Savolainen
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute for Child and Family Studies, Boys Town, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, Omaha, NE, 68010, USA.
authors.forename: W Alex
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.affiliation: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 321 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0561, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bolen
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute for Child and Family Studies, Boys Town, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, Omaha, NE, 68010, USA.
authors.forename: Mary B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Chmelka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Aapistie 5, Oulu, 90220, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hurtig
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child Psychiatry, University Hospital of Oulu, Kajaanintie 50, Oulu, 90220, Finland.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebeling
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Aapistie 5, Oulu, 90220, Finland.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nordström
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Aapistie 5, Oulu, 90220, Finland.|Primary Health Care Unit, University Hospital of Oulu, Kajaanintie 50, Oulu, 90220, Finland.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taanila
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010379:Peer Group; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools; D000066608:Underage Drinking