ABSTRACT
Children with severe and persistent antisocial behavior comprise an important category of psychiatrically disturbed youth, treated or untreated (Robins, 1974). For example, in the community prevalence survey carried out in the Isle of Wight, (Rutter, Tizard, & Whitmore, 1970), almost three quarters of all the boys and about one third of all the girls who were considered to be psychiatrically disturbed were diagnosed as having conduct disorder. The rate of conduct disorder among 10- and 11-year-olds was 4.2% overall, with frequencies among boys and girls separately of 6.0% and 1.6%, respectively. The heavy burden of suffering attributed to this disorder results not only from the high frequency of the condition, but also because of two other reasons. First, children and adolescents with the disorder have impaired functioning in many areas of their lives, such as school and peer relationships (Offord & Waters, 1983). In addition, there is evidence that the childhood diagnosis portends serious psychosocial disturbances in adulthood for upwards of 40% of these youth (Robins, 1970; Rutter & Giller, 1983). Second, this condition imposes a heavy burden on society in the form of personnel and money committed to diagnostic and treatment efforts. The magnitude of the problem of serious and persistent antisocial behavior merits research efforts aimed at discovering effective prevention and treatment techniques (Offord & Reitsma-Street, 1983). An essential basis for these efforts is sound epidemiological data on the prevalence, distribution, and correlates of this disorder.
