Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:05:06.713Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multiple developmental pathways underlying conduct problems: A multitrajectory framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2020

Jules R. Dugré Open the ORCID record for Jules R. Dugré [Opens in a new window]  and
Stéphane Potvin
Jules R. Dugré*
Affiliation:
Research Center of the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Canada Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Stéphane Potvin
Affiliation:
Research Center of the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal, Montreal, Canada Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
*
Author for Correspondence: Jules R. Dugré, Research Center of the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal; 7331 Hochelaga, Montreal, Quebec H1N 3V2, Canada; E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the past decades, there has been an overemphasis of a descriptive/behavioral approach to study conduct disorder. In an equifinal perspective, we aimed to examine the developmental multitrajectory groups of psychological features (irritability, interpersonal callousness, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and depressive–anxiety symptoms) and their associations with conduct problems. In a population-based cohort (n = 1,309 participants followed from 5 months to 17 years old), latent-class growth analysis was performed for each psychological feature to identify a two-trajectory model (from ages 6 to 12 years). Based on parameter estimates of the two-trajectory models for each of the four psychological features, a parallel process growth mixture model identified eight significant developmental patterns that were subsequently compared with typically developing children. Furthermore, we observed that while interpersonal callousness conferred an increased risk for childhood and adolescence conduct problems, its co-occurrence with hyperactivity/impulsivity, irritability, and/or depressive–anxiety symptoms heightened the general risk, but also predicted distinct subtypes of conduct problems (i.e., aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors). Thus, by studying complex developmental combinations of psychological features, we observed qualitatively distinct pathways towards conduct problems. A multitrajectory framework of psychological features should be considered as a significant step towards unveiling the multiple etiological pathways leading to conduct disorder and its substantial clinical heterogeneity.

Keywords

callousnessconduct disorderdevelopmental trajectorieshyperactivityirritability
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , August 2022 , pp. 1115 - 1124
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. (1983). Manual for the child behavior checklist and revised child behavior profile.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author.Google Scholar
Angold, A., & Costello, E. J. (2006). Puberty and depression. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 15, 919–937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Erkanli, A. (1999). Comorbidity. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 40, 57–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Worthman, C. M. (1998). Puberty and depression: The roles of age, pubertal status and pubertal timing. Psychological Medicine, 28, 51–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Behar, L. B. (1977). The preschool behavior questionnaire. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 5, 265–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blair, R. J. R., Leibenluft, E., & Pine, D. S. (2014). Conduct disorder and callous–unemotional traits in youth. New England Journal of Medicine, 371, 2207–2216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bongers, I. L., Koot, H. M., Van der Ende, J., & Verhulst, F. C. (2003). The normative development of child and adolescent problem behavior. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bubier, J. L., & Drabick, D. A. (2009). Co-occurring anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders: The roles of anxious symptoms, reactive aggression, and shared risk processes. Clinical Psychology Review, 29, 658–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burke, J. D., Loeber, R., & Lahey, B. B. (2007). Adolescent conduct disorder and interpersonal callousness as predictors of psychopathy in young adults. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36, 334–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, S. (2013). Do etiological influences on aggression overlap with those on rule breaking? A meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 43, 1801–1812.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, S. A., Donnellan, M. B., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2011). Age-of-onset or behavioral sub-types? A prospective comparison of two approaches to characterizing the heterogeneity within antisocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 633–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cecil, C. A., McCrory, E. J., Barker, E. D., Guiney, J., & Viding, E. (2018). Characterising youth with callous–unemotional traits and concurrent anxiety: Evidence for a high-risk clinical group. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 885–898.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Celeux, G., & Soromenho, G. (1996). An entropy criterion for assessing the number of clusters in a mixture model. Journal of Classification, 13, 195–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, E. J., Mustillo, S., Erkanli, A., Keeler, G., & Angold, A. (2003). Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 837–844.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Côté, S. M., Orri, M., Brendgen, M., Vitaro, F., Boivin, M., Japel, C., … Falissard, B. (2017). Psychometric properties of the Mental Health and Social Inadaptation Assessment for Adolescents (MIA) in a population-based sample. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 26, e1566.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Côté, S., Tremblay, R. E., Nagin, D. S., Zoccolillo, M., & Vitaro, F. (2002). Childhood behavioral profiles leading to adolescent conduct disorder: Risk trajectories for boys and girls. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 1086–1094.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1996). Social information-processing mechanisms in reactive and proactive aggression. Child Development, 67, 993–1002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cunningham, N. R., & Ollendick, T. H. (2010). Comorbidity of anxiety and conduct problems in children: Implications for clinical research and practice. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 13, 333–347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derzon, J. H. (2010). The correspondence of family features with problem, aggressive, criminal, and violent behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6, 263–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Döpfner, M., Hautmann, C., Görtz-Dorten, A., Klasen, F., Ravens-Sieberer, U., & Group, B. S. (2015). Long-term course of ADHD symptoms from childhood to early adulthood in a community sample. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 24, 665–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugré, J. R., Dumais, A., Dellazizzo, L., & Potvin, S. (2019). Developmental joint trajectories of anxiety-depressive trait and trait-aggression: Implications for co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing problems. Psychological Medicine, 50(8), 1338–1347.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dugré, J. R., & Potvin, S. (2020). Developmental multi-trajectory of irritability, anxiety, and hyperactivity as psychological markers of heterogeneity in childhood aggression. Psychological Medicine, 1–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Ezpeleta, L., Granero, R., de la Osa, N., & Domènech, J. M. (2017). Developmental trajectories of callous-unemotional traits, anxiety and oppositionality in 3–7-year-old children in the general population. Personality and Individual Differences, 111, 124–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairchild, G., Van Goozen, S. H., Calder, A. J., & Goodyer, I. M. (2013). Research review: Evaluating and reformulating the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 924–940.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanti, K. A. (2018). Understanding heterogeneity in conduct disorder: A review of psychophysiological studies. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 91, 4–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fanti, K. A., Demetriou, C. A., & Kimonis, E. R. (2013). Variants of callous-unemotional conduct problems in a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 964–979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanti, K. A., & Henrich, C. C. (2010). Trajectories of pure and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 to age 12: Findings from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Developmental Psychology, 46, 1159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., & Mick, E. (2006). The age-dependent decline of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A meta-analysis of follow-up studies. Psychological Medicine, 36, 159–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fontaine, N., Carbonneau, R., Barker, E. D., Vitaro, F., Hébert, M., Côté, S. M., … Tremblay, R. E. (2008). Girls’ hyperactivity and physical aggression during childhood and adjustment problems in early adulthood: A 15-year longitudinal study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65, 320–328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fontaine, N. M., McCrory, E. J., Boivin, M., Moffitt, T. E., & Viding, E. (2011). Predictors and outcomes of joint trajectories of callous–unemotional traits and conduct problems in childhood. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 730.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frick, P. J., Ray, J. V., Thornton, L. C., & Kahn, R. E. (2014). Annual research review: A developmental psychopathology approach to understanding callous-unemotional traits in children and adolescents with serious conduct problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55, 532–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frick, P. J., & White, S. F. (2008). Research review: The importance of callous-unemotional traits for developmental models of aggressive and antisocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 359–375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garofalo, C., & Velotti, P. (2017). Negative emotionality and aggression in violent offenders: The moderating role of emotion dysregulation. Journal of Criminal Justice, 51, 9–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorin, H. M., Kosson, D. S., Miller, S. A., Fontaine, N. M., Vitaro, F., Séguin, J. R., … Tremblay, R. E. (2019). Psychopathic traits in middle childhood: Evidence of a hierarchical three-factor structure. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 41, 341–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goulter, N., Kimonis, E. R., Hawes, S. W., Stepp, S., & Hipwell, A. E. (2017). Identifying stable variants of callous-unemotional traits: A longitudinal study of at-risk girls. Developmental Psychology, 53, 2364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawes, D. J. (2014). Disruptive behaviour disorders and DSM-5. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 11, 102–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herpers, P. C., Rommelse, N. N., Bons, D. M., Buitelaar, J. K., & Scheepers, F. E. (2012). Callous–unemotional traits as a cross-disorders construct. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47, 2045–2064.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huang, J., Fan, L., Lin, K., & Wang, Y. (2019). Variants of children with psychopathic tendencies in a community sample. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 51, 1–9.Google Scholar
Jetté, M., & Des Groseilliers, L. (2000). Longitudinal study of child development in Québec (ELDEQ 1998–2000). Survey Description and Methodology, 1, 1–61.Google Scholar
Jung, T., & Wickrama, K. A. (2008). An introduction to latent class growth analysis and growth mixture modeling. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 302–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, R. E., Frick, P. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Kogos Youngstrom, J., Feeny, N. C., & Findling, R. L. (2013). Distinguishing primary and secondary variants of callous-unemotional traits among adolescents in a clinic-referred sample. Psychological Assessment, 25, 966.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimonis, E. R., Frick, P. J., Cauffman, E., Goldweber, A., & Skeem, J. (2012). Primary and secondary variants of juvenile psychopathy differ in emotional processing. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 1091–1103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimonis, E. R., Skeem, J. L., Cauffman, E., & Dmitrieva, J. (2011). Are secondary variants of juvenile psychopathy more reactively violent and less psychosocially mature than primary variants? Law and Human Behavior, 35, 381–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klingzell, I., Fanti, K. A., Colins, O. F., Frogner, L., Andershed, A.-K., & Andershed, H. (2016). Early childhood trajectories of conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits: The role of fearlessness and psychopathic personality dimensions. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 47, 236–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larsson, H., Dilshad, R., Lichtenstein, P., & Barker, E. D. (2011). Developmental trajectories of DSM-IV symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Genetic effects, family risk and associated psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 954–963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liang, K.-Y., & Zeger, S. L. (1986). Longitudinal data analysis using generalized linear models. Biometrika, 73, 13–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lo, Y., Mendell, N. R., & Rubin, D. B. (2001). Testing the number of components in a normal mixture. Biometrika, 88, 767–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loeber, R. (1990). Development and risk factors of juvenile antisocial behavior and delinquency. Clinical Psychology Review, 10, 1–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1998). Development of juvenile aggression and violence: Some common misconceptions and controversies. American Psychologist, 53, 242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Longman, T., Hawes, D. J., & Kohlhoff, J. (2016). Callous–unemotional traits as markers for conduct problem severity in early childhood: A meta-analysis. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 47, 326–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lorber, M. F. (2004). Psychophysiology of aggression, psychopathy, and conduct problems: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 531.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynam, D. R. (1996). Early identification of chronic offenders: Who is the fledgling psychopath? Psychological Bulletin, 120, 209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynam, D. R., Charnigo, R., Moffitt, T. E., Raine, A., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2009). The stability of psychopathy across adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 1133–1153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meehan, A. J., Maughan, B., Cecil, C. A., & Barker, E. D. (2017). Interpersonal callousness and co-occurring anxiety: Developmental validity of an adolescent taxonomy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moffitt, T. E. (2003). Life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior: A 10-year research review and a research agenda. In Lahey, B. B., Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. (Eds.), Causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency (pp. 49–75). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Muthén, B., & Muthén, L. K. (2000). Integrating person-centered and variable-centered analyses: Growth mixture modeling with latent trajectory classes. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 24, 882–891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthén, B., & Muthén, L. K. (2009). Statistical analysis with latent variables. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Nagin, D. S. (2005). Group-based modeling of development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagin, D. S., Jones, B. L., Passos, V. L., & Tremblay, R. E. (2018). Group-based multi-trajectory modeling. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 27, 2015–2023.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nagin, D., & Tremblay, R. E. (1999). Trajectories of boys’ physical aggression, opposition, and hyperactivity on the path to physically violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency. Child Development, 70, 1181–1196.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nock, M. K., Kazdin, A. E., Hiripi, E., & Kessler, R. C. (2006). Prevalence, subtypes, and correlates of DSM-IV conduct disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Psychological Medicine, 36, 699–710.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nylund, K. L., Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. O. (2007). Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling: A Monte Carlo simulation study. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14, 535–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orri, M., Galera, C., Turecki, G., Forte, A., Renaud, J., Boivin, M., … Geoffroy, M.-C. (2018). Association of childhood irritability and depressive/anxious mood profiles with adolescent suicidal ideation and attempts. JAMA Psychiatry, 75, 465–473.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pagani, L. S., Fitzpatrick, C., Barnett, T. A., & Dubow, E. (2010). Prospective associations between early childhood television exposure and academic, psychosocial, and physical well-being by middle childhood. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164, 425–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pardini, D., & Frick, P. J. (2013). Multiple developmental pathways to conduct disorder: Current conceptualizations and clinical implications. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 22, 20.Google ScholarPubMed
Polier, G. G., Vloet, T. D., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B., Laurens, K. R., & Hodgins, S. (2012). Comorbidity of conduct disorder symptoms and internalising problems in children: Investigating a community and a clinical sample. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 21, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rey, J. M., Sawyer, M. G., & Prior, M. R. (2005). Similarities and differences between aggressive and delinquent children and adolescents in a national sample. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39, 366–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salekin, R. T., Rosenbaum, J., & Lee, Z. (2008). Child and adolescent psychopathy: Stability and change. Psychiatry Psychology and Law, 15, 224–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigvardsson, S., Bohman, M., & Cloninger, C. R. (1987). Structure and stability of childhood personality: Prediction of later social adjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28, 929–946.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simard, V., Nielsen, T. A., Tremblay, R. E., Boivin, M., & Montplaisir, J. Y. (2008). Longitudinal study of preschool sleep disturbance: The predictive role of maladaptive parental behaviors, early sleep problems, and child/mother psychological factors. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 162, 360–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sonuga-Barke, E. J., Cortese, S., Fairchild, G., & Stringaris, A. (2016). Annual research review: Transdiagnostic neuroscience of child and adolescent mental disorders–differentiating decision making in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, depression, and anxiety. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57, 321–349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stanger, C., Achenbach, T. M., & Verhulst, F. C. (1997). Accelerated longitudinal comparisons of aggressive versus delinquent syndromes. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 43–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statistics Canada. (2007). National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth – Cycle 2 Survey Instruments 1996–97 Book 2 – Education, 10–11 and 12–13 year-olds. Retrieved from https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Instr.pl?Function=getInstrumentList&Item_Id=33636&UL=1V&.Google Scholar
Stringaris, A., Vidal-Ribas, P., Brotman, M. A., & Leibenluft, E. (2018). Practitioner review: Definition, recognition, and treatment challenges of irritability in young people. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 59, 721–739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tackett, J. L., Krueger, R. F., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2005). Symptom-based subfactors of DSM-defined conduct disorder: Evidence for etiologic distinctions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tackett, J. L., Krueger, R. F., Sawyer, M. G., & Graetz, B. W. (2003). Subfactors of DSM-IV conduct disorder: Evidence and connections with syndromes from the Child Behavior Checklist. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 647–654.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tremblay, R. E. (2000). The development of aggressive behaviour during childhood: What have we learned in the past century? International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 129–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, R. E. (2010). Developmental origins of disruptive behaviour problems: The “original sin” hypothesis, epigenetics and their consequences for prevention. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 341–367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, R. E., Nagin, D. S., Séguin, J. R., Zoccolillo, M., Zelazo, P. D., Boivin, M., … Japel, C. (2004). Physical aggression during early childhood: Trajectories and predictors. Pediatrics, 114, e43–e50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tremblay, R. E., Pihl, R. O., Vitaro, F., & Dobkin, P. L. (1994). Predicting early onset of male antisocial behavior from preschool behavior. Archives of General Psychiatry, 51, 732–739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Nest, G., Passos, V. L., Candel, M. J., & van Breukelen, G. J. (2020). An overview of mixture modelling for latent evolutions in longitudinal data: Modelling approaches, fit statistics and software. Advances in Life Course Research, 43, 100323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughn, M. G., Edens, J. F., Howard, M. O., & Smith, S. T. (2009). An investigation of primary and secondary psychopathy in a statewide sample of incarcerated youth. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 7, 172–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vuong, Q. H. (1989). Likelihood ratio tests for model selection and non-nested hypotheses. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 57(2), 307–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, J. C., & Ollendick, T. H. (2006). The comorbidity of conduct problems and depression in childhood and adolescence. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 9, 201–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Dugré and Potvin Supplementary Materials

Dugré and Potvin Supplementary Materials

Download Dugré and Potvin Supplementary Materials(File)
File 20.6 KB