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Longitudinal studies of childhood conduct disorders have historically examined clinical populations. These researchers conducted a first-ever prospective follow-up of conduct problems in a birth cohort from Dunedin, New Zealand, to examine long-term burdens on health, welfare, and criminal-justice systems.
The birth cohort was assembled at age 3 (52% male) and assessed comprehensively at 11 points until age 38. For this analysis, 931 participants were divided into groups according to whether they had conduct problems only as children (22%), only as adolescents (19%), or persistently from childhood through adulthood (9%) or had few problems (50%).
According to public records, the persistent group in adulthood was responsible for 53% of the coh…