Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents: Evidence in Brazil

Abstract

The current study presents a systematic review of the national literature on Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders (DICCD) in Brazilian children and adolescents. A total of ten studies were reviewed, after considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria plus a manual search in the articles’ references. Five articles were case studies, four were cross-sectional and only one had a naturalistic design. Conduct Disorder was the most prevalent type of DICCD in both clinical and non-clinical samples. A high comorbidity between DICCD with affective, learning, and substance use disorders was noted. Given the amount of research currently available, it was not possible to describe developmental factors of change and continuity in relation to DICCD in Brazilian children and adolescents. More research is necessary, preferably adopting multiple research designs in order to better characterize risk and protective factors associated with the evaluated disorders.

Keywords

• Transtornos do comportamento infantil
• Comportamento Infantil
• Saúde da criança
• Psicologia do adolescente
• Comportamento do Adolescente