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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: jules.dugre@umontreal.ca
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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
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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