ABSTRACT
Antisocial behaviors in children refer to a variety of acts that reflect social rule violations and actions against others. Such behaviors as fighting, lying, and stealing are seen in varying degrees in most children over the course of development. Antisocial acts are surprisingly frequent in community (non-clinic or non-adjudicated) samples. For example, by the time of adolescence, over 50 percent of males and 20-35 percent of females have engaged in at least one delinquent act (illegal behavior) (Rutter, Giller, & Hagell, 1998). Conduct disorder (CD) refers to antisocial behavior that is beyond a single act that might be normative. The extent to which antisocial behaviors are sufficiently severe to constitute CD depends on several characteristics of the behaviors, including their frequency, intensity, and chronicity, whether they are isolated acts or part of a larger syndrome with other deviant behaviors, and whether they lead to significant impairment of the child, as judged by parents, teachers, or others.
