Title: Trajectories of Conduct Problems from Ages 3 to 11
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: Recent independent reports to the Government have highlighted the importance of devising interventions to promote the healthy development of children. In particular, conduct problems in early childhood have been identified as an important determinant of life chances, with wide-ranging and long-lasting individual and societal impacts. Conduct problems contribute strongly to health inequalities and are a key mechanism for the inter-generational transmission of disadvantage. The lifetime costs of conduct problems are high and even modest improvements are likely to produce a return on investment in early intervention. While there is a growing consensus on the need for early intervention, devising an effective intervention strategy is not a straightforward task. Previous research suggest that children exhibit different developmental pathways of conduct problems, depending on their exposure to risk and protective factors which, in turn, has implications for longer term outcomes. Yet, few studies have examined trajectories of conduct problems from an early age using a contemporary longitudinal data set with a nationally representative sample of children. We aim to fill this knowledge gap by investigating children's conduct problems using the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Our proposed project has five major objectives: (1) to investigate the prevalence of behavioural problems at ages 3, 5, 7 and 11 and their co-morbidity with other mental health conditions such as emotional problems and hyperactivity; (2) to assess developmental pathways over time and examine different patterns in the trajectories of conduct problems according to age of onset, persistence and severity; (3) to identify the relative importance of risk and protective factors at different ages; (4) to examine the cascading effects of conduct problems on other life domains; and (5) to inform policy makers and practitioners regarding the design and implementation of effective early interventions. MCS covers a representative sample of around 19,000 children born in the UK in 2000/01 and has collected a large body of detailed information on the cohort children, their parents and their older siblings. We will focus on conduct problems from mild to severe detected by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (Goodman, 1997). There are several unique features of the MCS which we will use to create new insights. First, SDQ scores are available at ages 3, 5, 7 and 11 so we can examine variations in developmental pathways of conduct problems across time. Second, using parent and teacher-reported responses to the SDQ, we can compare responses by different reporters. Third, there have been few, if any, studies documenting ethnic differences in the development of conduct problems MCS offers a unique opportunity to examine these differences, as it has been oversampled for ethnic minorities (about 16% of the sample). Fourth, information regarding SDQ scores of older siblings enables us to control for otherwise unobserved features of a family. Lastly, there is information on a wide diversity of risk and protective factors available in MCS, allowing us to explore cumulative and/or interactive effects and examining developmental change. Improved understanding of trajectories in conduct problems is important not only from a research perspective but also because of its relevance for clinical practice, service provision and national mental health policy, and wider social policy. Through a strategic academic/third sector partnership between the IoE's Department of Quantitative Social Science and the Centre for Mental Health, we aim to disseminate findings in different contexts and to communicate effectively, well beyond the research community.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;2.4 SURVEILLANCE AND DISTRIBUTION
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH