Abstract
This article reports a comparison on age-26 outcomes of males who were previously defined in the Dunedin longitudinal study as exhibiting childhood-onset versus adolescent-onset antisocial behavior and matched on adolescent delinquent offending. Previous studies of these groups in childhood and adolescence showed that childhood-onset delinquents had inadequate parenting, neuro-cognitive problems, under-controlled temperament, severe hyperactivity, psychopathic personality traits, and violent behavior. Adolescent-onset delinquents were not distinguished by these features. Here followed to age 26, the childhood-onset delinquents were the most extreme on: psychopathic personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, numbers of children, financial problems, work problems, and drug-related and violent crime, including violence against women and children. The adolescent-onset delinquents at 26 were less extreme but elevated on: impulsivity, mental disorders, substance dependence, financial problems, and property offences. A third group of males who had been aggressive as children but only moderately delinquent as adolescents emerged as low-level chronic offending adults who were anxious, depressed, socially isolated, and had financial and work problems. These findings are consistent with the theory of life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior, but also extend it. Findings recommend intervention with all aggressive children and with all delinquent adolescents, to prevent a variety of maladjustments in adult life.