Risk factors for Conduct Disorder among Canadian children: a focus on childhood-onset Conduct Disorder

Abstract

Childhood-onset Conduct Disorder (CD) is a serious mental health issue. Research has shown that when CD affects a child under 10, the problems are more likely to persist as the child grows up. Research has also shown that there are many risk factors associated with CD. However, there have been no known studies conducted for Canada looking exclusively at risk factors for childhood-onset CD. This thesis quantitatively assesses the impact of risk factors identified in the Canadian "National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth" (NLSCY): Cycles 1 & 3 on childhood-onset CD using binary response regressions. This research concluded that major risk factors associated with childhood-onset CD in Canada include: being a male, comorbidity with ADHD, low income, low parental education, maternal depression, family dysfunction, hostile/ineffective parenting, yelling at a child often, exposure to violence in home, parental smoking, and mother being very young at the birth of the child.