Factors Associated with the Intergenerational Continuity of Conduct Disorder and Co-occurring Disorders in a Cohort of High-Risk Children
Children whose parents had a conduct disorder (CD) during childhood are at high risk of developing a CD themselves, as well as co-occurring mental disorders characterized by symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
CD can appear early in childhood and has significant long-term consequences for mental health, academic success, and social adjustment. By adopting an intergenerational approach, the project’s main objectives are to examine how CD is transmitted from parent to child and contributes to the development of other mental disorders, and to identify modifiable protective factors to inform preventive interventions.
This project is based on a prospective longitudinal study that tracked 744 children aged 6 to 9 at the start of the study—434 of whom had a developmental disorder—and collected annual data on their mental health and their family and school environments for more than 16 years. Today, nearly 15% of these participants have become parents. The project will initiate intergenerational follow-up by collecting data on the children of these participating parents.
