Prevalence and development of childhood conduct disorders

Abstract

This paper is based on the systematic review of the contemporary literature on the conduct disorders in childhood. Existing diagnostic classification systems and characteristics of the specific conduct disorders types were considered at the very beginning. Prevalence data were presented followed by the proper discussion on perceived existing differences according to the age, gender and data collection method. Considering the empirical data on the development of the conduct disorders, emphasis was placed on the issues of stability and existence of the several developmental trajectories with the different prognosis. The results of the previous researches suggest that in the certain number of the problematic behavior cases in childhood was an early precursor of the severe problems at adult age. The age in which symptoms appeared, type and the severity of the symptoms have a specific significance in a prognostic sense. The conclusion is that the childhood deserves special attention in the researches of conduct disorder epidemiology.

Rad sadrži sistematičan pregled novije literature o poremećajima ponašanja u detinjstvu. Na početku su razmotreni postojeći dijagnostičko klasifikacioni sistemi i karakteristike pojedinih oblika poremećaja ponašanja. Prikazani su podaci o prevalenciji i prodiskutovane postojeće razlike u zavisnosti od uzrasta, pola i načina prikupljanja podataka. Prilikom razmatranja empirijskih podataka o razvoju poremećaja ponašanja, naglasak je stavljen na stabilnost i postojanje više razvojnih putanja sa različitom prognozom. Rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja sugerišu da su u izvesnom broju slučajeva problematična ponašanja u detinjstvu rani prekursor ozbiljnijih problema na starijem uzrastu. Poseban značaj u prognostičkom smislu imaju uzrast na kome su se pojavili simptomi, vrsta i težina simptoma. Zaključak je da u proučavanju epidemiologije poremećaja ponašanja period detinjstva zaslužuje posebnu pažnju.