Conduct Disordered Adolescents
by Shannon K. Spellman, M.S.W.
The term "conduct disorder" refers to meeting the criteria for an adolescent mental health diagnosis of a behavioral problem with several distinctive features. A youth who is diagnosed with a conduct disorder typically has some violent and aggressive tendencies that may be mild to severe. These include bullying, threatening, and intimidating others, starting fights, use of a weapon of some type, being physically or sexually abusive to others, animal cruelty, theft involving confronting a victim, or property destruction in some form.
In addition, these teens may be skilled con artists and practiced thieves. And they often have serious status offenses (running away, truancy, curfew violations, etc prior to the age of thirteen). These youth are very likely to become involved with the Juvenile Court system and often times can actually benefit from the structure of supervised probation and/or short-term incarceration.
Adolescents with this severity of behavioral problems must have consequences if they are going to have any chance of ever being able to take responsibility for their own behavior and interrupt their delinquent patterns. It is important to look at the child's history as well as within the family system for issues that the youth may be reacting to. Often, kids begin to act out at a very young age due to not having adequately dealt with a loss or a traumatic event. This is not a reason to excuse the behavior, but often an explanation that can be helpful in seeking therapeutic interventions to resolve the emotional problems that resulted in the behavioral issues.
If you are the parent of a conduct disordered adolescent, the behaviors you are faced with can be frightening as can the authorities within the Juvenile system. It is important not to protect your child from the consequences of his/her own behavior. When you do this, you are ultimately prolonging any chance of your child getting help. Lack of consequences tells a juvenile delinquent that the behavior can be gotten away with and nothing bad will happen. If any of us were ever allowed to just go take whatever we wanted from a store whenever we wanted it without paying, and then had the choice of paying or not, most of us would see little reason to pay. Part of the problem for conduct disordered kids is they have typically gotten away with a great deal more than they are ever caught with.
If you have a teen who fits this criteria and has never been formally charged, you may have to involve the authorities yourself if the behaviors occur within your home or if you become aware of illegal activities. If you don't do this, you are putting yourself and society at risk as well as robbing your adolescent of the one chance they might have to turn this behavior around. Left untreated and without consequences, these kids will be very likely to grow up to be adult criminals and or perpetrators of domestic violence or child abuse. Without some type of intervention, they have no reason to stop.
If your child is caught for a minor offense, (i.e., shoplifting for instance, it is important that you let Juvenile Court authorities know the extent of the problem. Otherwise, your teen will most likely get referred to a diversion program with little impact. If you inform the authorities of the seriousness of the problems, chances are they will at least offer some type of treatment as part of that diversion program. If you are afraid of your teen finding out that you told, then think seriously about your own safety in the house with your teen. You adolescent should see you as a parent who will tell the truth even when it's painful.
With consistent, structured consequences combined with behavioral and psychological treatment, your conduct disordered adolescent can have the opportunity of changing his/her own future. Make it your job to allow that opportunity to exist.
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References
1. American Psychiatric Association, 1994. Quick Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria From DSM-IV.