Commentary: Childhood conduct problems are a public health crisis and require resources: a commentary on Rivenbark et al. ()

Abstract

Conduct problems (CP) are actions that violate societal norms and/or the personal/property rights of others, and include behaviors such as vandalism, theft, bullying, and assault. Roughly 8%-10% of children engage in the more severe childhood-onset form of CP, while another 25% initiate clinically-significant levels of CP during adolescence. As deftly observed in Rivenbark et al. (), however, the high prevalence of CP belies its severity: Youth with CP are at increased risk for a number of deleterious individual outcomes, including academic delay/dropout, low professional achievement, psychopathology, addiction, and family instability.