ABSTRACT
Aggressive behavior, vandalism, extreme stubbornness, and other disruptive behavior problems (DBP) are among the most frequent grounds for admission to child mental health services. At present, DBP in children are rated among the largest concerns of the general public in Western countries (e.g. for the Netherlands, Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (SCP), 1999), not least because their prevalence seems to have increased markedly in recent decades (Rutter, 1997; SCP, 1999). Researchers in psychology, psychiatry, criminology, sociology, and biology have increasingly cooperated to study the nature, causes, consequences, and variability of DBP.
