What does the research say about Conduct Disorder?
Recent research on Conduct Disorder has been very promising. For example, research has shown that most children and adolescents with conduct disorder do not grow up to have behavioral problems or problems with the law as adults; most of these youth do well as adults, both socially and occupationally. Researchers are also gaining a better understanding of the causes of conduct disorder, as well as aggressive behavior more generally. Conduct disorder has both genetic and environmental components. That is, although the disorder is more common among the children of adults who themselves exhibited conduct problems when they were young, there are many other factors which researchers believe contribute to the development of the disorder. For example, youth with conduct disorder appear to have deficits in processing social information or social cues, and some may have been rejected by peers as young children. Despite early reports that treatment for this disorder is ineffective, several recent
