| The link between temperament in childhood and Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms in adolescence was investigated among a sample of 1650 participants. Childhood temperament was assessed yearly between the ages of 6 and 12. The presence of DSM-IIIR CD symptoms was self-reported by the adolescents (15-16 years) and their parents. First, developmental trajectories for the three temperamental traits representing the basis of Cloninger's (1986-1 1987) personality model are presented. Developmental trajectories were identified using semi parametric mixture models and found to be mostly stable through childhood. Second, the developmental trajectories of temperament were related to the number of CD symptoms using Poisson regression. Children on a high level trajectory of Novelty Seeking and on a low level trajectory for Reward Dependence reported a significantly higher number of covert CD symtoms in adolescence. Membership in the high level Novelty Seeking trajectory significantly predicted overt CD symptoms for boys. For girls, high Novelty Seeking, low Reward Dependence and the interaction between the two dimensions predicted overt CD symptoms. Analyses of the relationship between Cloninger's personality profiles and CD revealed that boys with an antisocial profile and girls with an explosive-schizoid profile had a significantly higher number of CD symptoms in adolescence. |
Updated 05/20/2006