Recent research has suggested that there are two
distinct trajectories for the development of antisocial behavior in boys: a childhood-onset
pathway and an adolescent-onset pathway. After reviewing the limited available research on
antisocial girls, we propose that this influential method of conceptualizing the development of
severe antisocial behavior may not apply to girls without some important modifications.
Antisocial girls appear to show many of the correlates that have been associated with the
childhood-onset pathway in boys, and they tend to show impaired adult adjustment, which is also
similar to boys in the childhood-onset pathway. However, antisocial girls typically show an
adolescent-onset to their antisocial behavior. We have proposed that these girls show a third
developmental pathway which we have labeled the “delayed-onset” pathway. This
model rests on the assumption that many of the putative pathogenic mechanisms that contribute
to the development of antisocial behavior in girls, such as cognitive and neuropsychological
deficits, a dysfunctional family environment, and/or the presence of a callous and
unemotional interpersonal style, may be present in childhood, but they do not lead to severe and
overt antisocial behavior until adolescence. Therefore, we propose that the delayed-onset
pathway for girls is analogous to the childhood-onset pathway in boys and that there is no
analogous pathway in girls to the adolescent-onset pathway in boys. Although this model clearly
needs to be tested in future research, it highlights the need to test the applicability of current
theoretical models for explaining the development of antisocial behavior in girls.