Published 3 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b775
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b775

Letters

Teenage conduct problems, later

Predictions are overly dire

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Colman and colleagues conclude: "Adolescents who exhibit externalising behaviour experience multiple social and health impairments that adversely affect them, their families, and society throughout adult life."1 This seems an overly dire and alarmist conclusion from looking at their data.

There were no adult symptoms of depression or anxiety in about half of those with externalising behaviours (mild or severe) in adolescence, compared with 45% of those without such behaviours. Over 80% of those in all three groups had no problems with alcohol abuse as adults, and over 70% in all three groups did not have nervous trouble.

Over 87% of those with externalising behaviours were not teenage parents, compared with 93% without the behaviours. Over 60% of those with mild behaviours and half of those with severe behaviours were still in their first marriage. Slightly more than half of those without externalising behaviours, around half of those with mild externalising . . . [Full text of this article]

Joan McClusky, medical writer1

1 New York, NY 10003, USA

joanmnewyork@aol.com


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Authors’ reply
Ian Colman, Rosemary A Abbott, and Peter B Jones
BMJ 2009 338: b777. [Extract] [Full Text]

Outcomes of conduct problems in adolescence: 40 year follow-up of national cohort
Ian Colman, Joseph Murray, Rosemary A Abbott, Barbara Maughan, Diana Kuh, Tim J Croudace, and Peter B Jones
BMJ 2009 338: a2981. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Colman, I., Abbott, R. A, Jones, P. B (2009). Authors' reply. BMJ 338: b777-b777 [Full text]  
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ