Mid-life outcomes of young people’s antisocial behavior: the role of developmental heterogeneity across childhood and adolescence

Background

Antisocial behavior (ASB) is relatively common in childhood and adolescence. While it harms victims, perpetrators are at increased risk of disadvantageous adult outcomes. Developmental heterogeneity is well documented; distinctions have been drawn between early-onset persistent, adolescent-onset, and childhood-limited pathways. We examine whether individuals in some pathways face worse mid-life outcomes than others and whether the pattern differs across sexes.

Methods

The 1970 British Cohort Study assessed parent-reported ASB measures at ages 5, 10, and 16. We classified developmental pathways using the Rutter A scale conduct questions. We categorized children scoring in the top 10% of the distribution as showing high ASB, separately at each assessment. Approximately 6000 individuals were classified into low (73%), childhood-limited (11%), adolescent-onset (9%), and early-onset persistent (7%) groups. We tested associations of ASB grouping with age 46 social, economic, and health outcomes, controlling for a range of covariates.

Results

The childhood-limited group showed little mid-life difficulty. The early-onset persistent and adolescent-onset groups both showed a pattern of worse midlife outcomes for boys and girls.

Conclusions

The results highlight that ASB in young people is not transient and that prevention and treatment during early childhood and adolescence are warranted.