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Conduct Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: Developmental Trajectories, Predictors and Outcomes in a Six-Year Follow Up

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Abstract

Understanding youth conduct problems requires examination from a developmental perspective, analyzing distinctive pathways across childhood and adolescence, and identifying early predictors which will lead to specific adolescent outcomes. Bearing this in mind, developmental trajectories of conduct problems were identified from a person-oriented perspective, and using data collected from three waves over a six-year period, in a sample of Spanish children aged 6–11 at the onset of the study. Conduct problems showed five distinctive trajectories which were grouped into three major pathways in further analyses: Stable low, Stable high, and Decreasing. Associations with early personality and psychopathic traits, as well as with a wide range of adolescent behavioral and psychosocial outcomes were examined, revealing the Stable high group as exhibiting the highest risk profile. These results contribute to improving our knowledge about one of the most relevant problems in youth populations, and will help in refining interventions strategies by recognizing the developmental heterogeneity of the construct.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministries of Health (National Plan on Drugs), and Education (Grant BS02003-10340, and the Teacher Training University Program—Programa de Formación de Profesorado Universitario, FPU: AP2009-0714).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Psicología Clínica y Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Campus Vida, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Laura López-Romero

  2. School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

    Henrik Andershed

  3. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Laura López-Romero & Estrella Romero

Authors
  1. Laura López-Romero
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  2. Estrella Romero
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  3. Henrik Andershed
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Correspondence to Laura López-Romero.

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López-Romero, L., Romero, E. & Andershed, H. Conduct Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: Developmental Trajectories, Predictors and Outcomes in a Six-Year Follow Up. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 46, 762–773 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0518-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-014-0518-7

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