This paper examines the extent to which conduct problems at age 13 are associated with a
range of educational, psychosocial, and sexual outcomes at age 18 in a birth cohort of 488
young women. Significant associations were found between early adolescent conduct
problems and later risks of educational failure, juvenile crime, substance abuse, mental
health problems, and adverse sexual outcomes by late adolescence. These elevated risks were
explained, in part, by social, family, and personal disadvantages associated with adjustment
at age 13. In addition, there was evidence of a causal chain process in which early adolescent
conduct problems were associated with a series of adolescent risk-taking behaviours,
including delinquent peer affiliations, early-onset sexual behaviour, substance use, and
school problems that were, in turn, associated with increased risks of later adverse outcomes.