Mental disorders in childhood and adolescence as a factor of delinquent behavior: a narrative review

A considerable proportion of children and adolescents with deviant behavior present with mental disorders that frequently remain undiagnosed and untreated. According to DSM-5-TR (2022), six psychiatric diagnoses can be distinguished that manifest in childhood and are accompanied by antisocial behavior: conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, kleptomania, and pyromania. Fewer than half of children with these diagnoses exhibit clinically significant traits of irritability and/or callous-unemotional traits literally from infancy. These traits alone do not explain antisocial behavior; however, in its presence they predict its intensity and frequency. As they mature, many of them exhibit a delay in the development of impulse control. Early identification of these transdiagnostic markers prior to the learning of disruptive patterns, along with personalized interventions, may contribute to the prevention of social maladjustment and delinquency in adolescents.

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