Developmental Pathways to Conduct Disorder: Implications of the DSM-5 Specifier “with Limited Prosocial Emotions”

Sponsored by the Clinical and Developmental Areas of Psychology

Abstract: Children and adolescents who show a serious pattern of antisocial and aggressive behavior and who meet the diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder represent a serious mental health concern. Their behavior places them at risk for a number of significant educational, social, and legal difficulties and their behavior can lead to serious consequences to the victims of their antisocial and aggressive acts. The current presentation will focus on research charting the various developmental pathways that can lead to Conduct Disorder, focusing especially on one pathway that involves failures in the normal development of empathy, guilt, and other forms of prosocial emotions. Children in this pathway often show a particularly severe, aggressive, and stable pattern of behavior, which has led to its inclusion in recent diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder. The current talk will also focus on the implications of this research for identifying children in need of early intervention for their behavior problems and for designing effective interventions for children and adolescents with Conduct Disorder in mental health clinics, schools, or the juvenile justice system.

Paul J. Frick, Ph.D is the Roy Crumpler Memorial Chair in the Department of Psychology at the Louisiana State University and professor in Learning Science Institute of Australia at Australian Catholic University. Dr. Frick has published over 220 manuscripts in either edited books or peer-reviewed publications and he is the author of 6 additional books and test manuals. A continuing line of research focuses on understanding the different pathways through which youth develop serious antisocial behavior and aggression and the implications of this research for assessment, treatment, and public policy. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation. In 2004, Dr. Frick was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Orebro University in Orebro, Sweden in recognition of his research contributions in psychology. In 2008, he received the MacArthur Foundation’s Champion for Change in Juvenile Justice Award for the state of Louisiana. Dr. Frick was awarded the 2015 Robert D. Hare Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. Dr. Frick has been the President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy (2009-2011). He is currently the editor of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, the official journal of the International Society for Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. He was the editor of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (2007-2011), the official journal of Division 53 of the American Psychological Association which is the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Dr. Frick also was a member of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V Workgroup for ADHD and the Disruptive Behavior Disorders (2007-2012).