ABSTRACT
Conduct problems of adolescents and children are the most common referrals to mental health clinics in the western hemisphere (Frick, 1998). Youth who fall into the broader category of externalizing problems account for between one third and half of all child and adolescent clinic referrals (Kazdin, Siegel, & Bass, 1992). The two major types of behavior problems, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), comprise the majority of these referrals. Chronic externalizing problems are already present in the preschool years, particularly in boys (Bates, Bayles, Bennett, Ridge, & Brown, 1991). Data suggest that the percentage of preschool and early school-age children meeting the criteria for the clinical diagnoses of ODD and early-onset CD ranges from 7% to as high as 25%, depending on the population surveyed (Campbell & Ewing, 1990). Developmental theorists have suggested that “early starters”—children who develop conduct problems in the preschool and kindergarten years-are at high risk for continuing on a trajectory toward further conduct problems, including CD, delinquency, dropping out of school, and interpersonal violence during adolescence (Loeber, 1991).
