Conduct problems from age 2 to age 10: Family and cognitive predictors

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Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of children diagnosed with conduct disorder; this is worrying because conduct disorder (especially if it begins early in life) is associated with many further problems including school-failure, delinquency, depression, substance-abuse and criminality. As a result, by the age of 28, children with early-onset conduct disorder cost public services 10 times as much as their typically-developing peers. Family factors play a prominent role in the onset and maintenance of conduct disorder: for example, 74% of juvenile offenders report family breakdown, and children with depressed mothers or low-income families are 2- to 5- times as likely as their peers to develop conduct disorder. The proposed study involves a socially diverse sample of 194 10-year-old children who previously took part in detailed cognitive and observational assessments at ages 4 and 6; for 122 of these children, detailed data (including mother-child observations) are also available at age 2 and 3. This age 10 follow up includes experimental and observational assessments that parallel those used at earlier time-points. In addition, during school visits, whole class sessions will be used to gather classmates' nominations that will provide a robust index of the study children's peer status (e.g., popular / rejected etc) and peer reputation (e.g., for leadership, aggression, sociability and isolation). Finally, the proposed home visits will include a 'life history calendar' interview with mothers, focusing on the duration and co-occurrence of life events (such as family change or maternal depression). Data from the four time-points will be examined in relation to conduct disorder scores using path analysis.