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Gender differences in childhood onset conduct disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2004

KRISTEN M. McCABE ,
CARIE RODGERS ,
MAY YEH  and
RICHARD HOUGH
KRISTEN M. McCABE
Affiliation:
Children's Hospital, San Diego University of California, San Diego; University of San Diego
CARIE RODGERS
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego; Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System
MAY YEH
Affiliation:
Children's Hospital, San Diego University of California, San Diego; San Diego State University
RICHARD HOUGH
Affiliation:
Children's Hospital, San Diego University of California, San Diego; San Diego State University
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Abstract

The present study tested several predictions related to the theory that girls with conduct disorder (CD) follow a single delayed onset pathway. The following hypotheses were tested among a high-risk, stratified random sample of youth who used public services during a 6-month period: boys will be more likely to have childhood onset CD (COCD) than girls; girls with COCD will be less common than girls with adolescent onset CD (AOCD); COCD girls, AOCD girls, and COCD boys will be similar in terms of risk profiles and AOCD boys will have a less severe risk profile than COCD girls; and risk factors that differentiate between COCD and AOCD among males will not differentiate between COCD and AOCD among females. Among those youth who met the criteria for CD, males were significantly more likely to have COCD than females. However, close to half of females with CD met the criteria for the COCD subtype. Of the seven risk factors that were examined, girls with COCD scored higher than COCD boys on three factors and higher than AOCD girls on four factors; however, only one significant difference was found between AOCD girls and COCD boys. Finally, risk factors appeared to differentiate between COCD and AOCD groups in a similar way among males and females. These findings suggest that COCD is not rare among females in public service sectors, COCD girls can be distinguished from AOCD girls in terms of risk factors, and risk factors for COCD among males are also relevant to females.The Patterns of Youth Mental Health Care in Public Service Systems Study is supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grant U01 MH55282. Preparation of this article was supported by Research Scientist Development Awards K01MH01767 and K01MH01924. The authors are most grateful for the comments and suggestions on this manuscript that were provided by Dr. Persephanie Silverthorn and Dr. Theodore Beauchaine.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2004 , pp. 179 - 192
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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