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Conduct Problems in Youth: Phenomenology, Classification, and Epidemiology

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Clinical Handbook of Assessing and Treating Conduct Problems in Youth

Abstract

Youth with conduct problems comprise a heterogeneous group of children and adolescents who engage in a broad array of problem behaviors ranging from defiance, argumentativeness, and temper outbursts to physical aggression, destructiveness, and stealing. Taken together, these problem behaviors continue to be the most frequent basis for child and adolescent referrals to mental health clinics and residential treatment facilities and are of great concern because of the high degree of impairment associated with them, their potential for persistence over time, and their association with negative life outcomes (Cohen et al., 1993; Lahey, Loeber, Quay, Frick, & Grimm, 1997; Loeber et al., 2000). Indeed, youth with clinically significant levels of oppositional and conduct problems often face a wide range of individual, family, and community-wide difficulties including interpersonal conflicts, violent behavior, delinquent acts, out-of-home placements, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. They are also estimated to be the most costly of all mental health problems in the United States (Cohen, 1998).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brown Medical School, Providence, USA

    Jennifer C. Wolff

  2. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA

    Thomas H. Ollendick

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  1. Jennifer C. Wolff
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  2. Thomas H. Ollendick
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Royal North Shore Hospital, Health Psychology Unit, University of Technology Sydney, St. Leonards, Sydney, 2065, New South Wales, Australia

    Rachael C. Murrihy

  2. Royal North Shore Hospital, Health Psychology Unit, University of Technology Sydney, St. Leonards, Sydney, 2065, New South Wales, Australia

    Antony D. Kidman

  3. Child Study Center, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, 24060, Virginia, USA

    Thomas H. Ollendick

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Wolff, J.C., Ollendick, T.H. (2011). Conduct Problems in Youth: Phenomenology, Classification, and Epidemiology. In: Murrihy, R., Kidman, A., Ollendick, T. (eds) Clinical Handbook of Assessing and Treating Conduct Problems in Youth. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6297-3_1

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