Psychosocial Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Conduct Problems

Abstract

Conduct problems (CP) encompass antisocial behaviors that violate others’ rights and/or societal norms. In this chapter, we describe evidence-based psychosocial interventions targeting CP during childhood and adolescence. Specifically, we outline the theoretical underpinnings and intervention components of family-based interventions and multicomponent interventions, including interventions specifically targeting high-risk personality traits for conduct problems (e.g., callous-unemotional traits and psychopathy). We briefly synthesize efficacy and effectiveness research on intervention effects in relation to CP, gun violence, gang affiliation, and criminal legal system involvement. We also describe the current evidence testing logic models (including mediating and moderating models) and we discuss the effective components of psychosocial interventions. Finally, we provide recommendations for future research to address youth gun violence. Ultimately, evidence supports the utility of psychosocial interventions for improving CP, especially when they are tailored to the needs of individuals. However, the field currently lacks evidence supporting the efficacy of these psychosocial interventions to reduce gun violence among children and adolescents. This is a critical next frontier for the field.

Impulsivity profiles across five harmonized longitudinal childhood preventive interventions and associations with adult outcomes

“…Emerging decomposition research on mechanisms of intervention-related change found that approximately a third of FT's impact on antisocial outcomes was accounted for by improvements in both social and self-regulation skills (including prosocial behavior, emotion regulation, and problem-solving; Sorensen et al, 2016). Compared to research on moderators (Goulter & Fleming, 2023;McMahon et al, 2021), much less work has been conducted investigating mechanisms of change. Further research is needed testing theoretical mechanisms of action, and the cascading effects of these mechanisms on change in impulsivity and change in other constructs, such as conduct problems, seems of prime interest.…”