Conduct Disorder Essay

Disruptive Behavior Disorders. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) form a cluster of childhood disorders considered to be “disruptive behavior disorders” (American Psychiatric Association, 2004). Although most violent adolescents have more than one mental disorder and they may have internalizing disorders, for example depression or substance abuse, there appear to be increasingly higher rates of physical aggression found in these adolescents who experience disruptive behavior disorders than for those with other mental disorders. The fact that violent juvenile offenders are more likely to have these diagnoses is not surprising, because impulsive and/or aggressive behaviors are part of their diagnostic criteria. Additionally, there is relatively high co-morbidity with substance abuse disorders, which are also associated with juvenile violence (Moeller, 2001). Individuals with conduct disorder have the following features but this list is not inclusive for example they may have little empathy and little concern for the feelings, wishes, and wellbeing of others, respond with aggression, may be callous and lack appropriate feelings of guilt re remorse, self-esteem may be low despite a projected

My last point as to why children turn to delinquency is due to a lack of communication with their parents. According to Clark and Shields at https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-19417319/family-communication-and-delinquency (1997) they state that “the importance of positive communication for optimal family functioning has major implications for delinquent behavior. They also discovered that communication is indeed related to the commission of delinquent behavior and differences are shown within categories of age, sex, and family marital status.” This has been caused due to the new family model known as the nuclear family. What this is, is a family with parents who are both working, and the extended family is spread throughout the country making it very difficult for children to receive any too little form of supervision, as well as communication from their family. This also goes back to the sheep and the sheep dog theory that without guidance and rules a child is doomed to have a lack of actions versus consequence ideals.

“In 1993, Moffitt states that manifestations of antisocial behavior emerge very early in the life course and remain present thereafter, suggesting childhood behaviors are links to adult criminality.” This notes the importance of exploring why these antisocial tendencies come to light in adolescence, in order to prevent future criminality. Thus, researching the differences and similarities between conduct disorder (CD), antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), and their rehabilitation can influence the likelihood of future crime, in addition to studying future criminality based on gender, individuality, and the effectivity of treatment in relation to CD.

Lee N. Robbins, PhD., was among the first to publish a large scale research study on adults who as children, showed deviant behavior. Her findings revealed that the majority of adults with antisocial behavior also displayed symptoms relating to conduct disorder as children. Additionally, she concluded that about one third of those with conduct disorder will be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder as adults (Kjelsberg, 2006).

The life course criminology, suggests that human development simultaneously takes place on numerous levels such as, psychological, biological, cultural, societal, familiar, interpersonal and ecological (Schmalleger, 2012). Criminal behavior "tends to follow a distinct pattern across the life cycle; also life course criminology" (Schmalleger, 2012 P. 192). It is believed that criminality is uncommon during childhood, but tends to manifest itself in the form of delinquency around adolescence and early adulthood. However, that it will diminish once a individual is around 30 or 40 years old. In other words a individual develops criminal behavior, by the causes of obstacles that were associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood. When

Family level risk factors are parental rejection and neglect. Inconsistent child-rearing practices or punitive discipline can also play a part. Physical and sexual abuse may cause the onset of conduct disorder. Lack of supervision, multiple changes in caregivers, and institutional learning also may lead to the development of conduct disorder. Large family sizes as well as parental crime records are high risk factors for conduct disorder. Conduct disorder can develop due to family psychopathology, for example substance-related disorders. The community can play a part in the development of conduct disorder too and includes peer rejection or a delinquent peer group. Conduct disorder can develop by neighborhood exposure to violence too. Community and family risk factors affect individuals who have the childhood-onset type of conduct

Conduct Disorder has been a part of the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic Statistical Manuel (DSM) since its original release date in 1994. Although, there is new information about the disorder that was previously unknown, Conduct Disorder is distinguished by a “repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate norms or rules are violated” (American Psychiatric Association, 1994.) This mild, moderate, or severe antisocial behavior begins to appear either in childhood, categorized as early-onset conduct disorder , or in adolescence after ten years of age, classified as adolescent-onset conduct disorder

Statistics show that in the United States, there were more than 4,000 arrests “for every 100,000 youths” between the ages of 10 and 17 in 2011 (USDOJJDP, 2011a). Juvenile delinquency is defined by Webster’s dictionary as “conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is beyond parental control and therefore subject to legal action” (“Juvenile delinquency,” n.d.). A number of jurisdictions have been exerting effort to prevent minor offenders from involvement in the juvenile delinquency system (USDOJJDP, 2011b). Efforts have been made due to the emphasis on detrimental effects of juvenile delinquency and confinement on youth put forward by research. The following paper will describe the a number of social factors as well as the cooperative cognitive and biological factors that contribute to the development of juvenile delinquency and promote understanding of the psychological process.

Scientific research has shown that behavioral problems occurring in early childhood and adolescence have long been thought to be a risk factor for a future of depression, antisocial behavior, and even violence. Specifically, conduct disorder (CD) which is a complicated set of behavioral and emotional problems affecting nine percent of boys and two percent of girls is thought to be a precursor to all of the above conditions. CD is a disorder that develops over a long period of time; and children can carry the side effects of negative behaviors well into their adulthood.

This article was useful to my topic because, it touched upon early contact with the juvenile criminal justice system and how it pertains to a lifetime offending. This helped to see that although many juveniles commit minor crimes there are perspectives to indicate ways of knowing whether or not offenses will continue to happen in the lifespan. This article used a study of 817 males that exited a Louisiana juvenile correctional facility in 1976 and was put with information obtained about adult records of the participants dating up to 1988. The outcome was that both intellectual functioning and early contact with the juvenile system had strong association to adult offending. Both logistic and binomial regression models were used to explain and

Conduct Disorder is a behavioral disorder and it is usually diagnosed during childhood or the teen years. Children with this disorder tend to have a disruptive and/or violent behavior. Children may also have trouble following rules. The behavior is diagnosed as Conduct Disorder when it is long-lasting. Common symptoms of Conduct Disorder are aggressive behavior such as fighting, or harming others or animals, destructive behavior such as intentional destruction of property, deceitful behavior such as lying, or violation of rules. Children with Conduct Disorder may be irritable or have low self-confidence, they may also throw temper tantrums. They will have little guilt for hurting others. The cause of Conduct Disorder is unknown but it is presumed

The theory I chose for this question is one that was from an American criminologist who is known for his containment theory of criminology- Walter Reckless. His theory states that juvenile delinquency arises from the breakdown of moral and social forces that contain deviant behavior.

The new criminal career research Life-course theories is concern on the beginning “the birth” of crime, what happened during childhood? And how long does it last? Delinquencies at the adolescence ages is develop during childhood, where during that time a child will adapt to the continuity or stability of antisocial behavior from his or her misbehavior in the social environment. This means that the children are regularly between two negative reaction, low self-control and negative reactions. The present of cruel and incoherent discipline with little parenting involvement and poor supervision, these aversively behavior of dysfunctional families contribute to antisocial children behavior outside the home.

According to McCord, Widom, and Crowell (2001), recent research on normal child development and the development of delinquent behavior have found that individual factors, social factors, environmental or communal factors can all influence individual’s behavior. There is also evidence of antisocial or delinquent behaviors resulting from various genetic, biological, and environmental factors that could be effected from the time the fetus first begins developing (McCord, et al., 2001). Identifying genetic abnormalities

Terrie E. Moffitt’s theory argues that antisocial behavior can be 1) life-course persistent offenders who spend the majority of their life exhibiting antisocial behavior and 2) adolescence-limited offenders who grow out of the antisocial behavior as they age. (Cullen & Agnew, 2011, Pg. 477) While it may be disputed that there are only two categories of antisocial individuals, Moffitt’s theory is supported by our other course readings. For example, Patricia Brennans study concluded that a lack of cognitive abilities due to