Understanding Conduct Disorder in Children
Conduct disorder is a term used for a group of behaviour or emotional challenges in children and teens. Children with conduct disorder often have strong energy and leadership skills, but they may struggle to express these strengths in healthy and positive ways.
Many children make mistakes or break rules sometimes. Conduct disorder is outside of typical childhood behaviour. If your child's actions are severe, happen often, and don't improve over time, help is available. And early treatment can make a meaningful difference. Don't lose hope. Talk with a mental health professional, your pediatrician, your school psychologist or counsellor, or your local mental health clinic.
What is conduct disorder?
Conduct disorder is a mental health condition that affects children and teens. Children or teens with conduct disorder may act without thinking (be impulsive), take risks, have trouble with managing strong emotions, and struggle with rules or authority figures. Behaviours associated with conduct disorder fall into 4 groups:
- Aggression towards people or animals.
- Destroying property.
- Lying or stealing.
- Breaking serious rules.
A mental health professional can diagnose conduct disorder when several of these behaviours happen over time and cause major problems with a child’s overall well-being and how they get along with others, do in school, and handle daily responsibilities.
Children with conduct disorder are sometimes called “bad”, “troubled”, or “delinquent”, but they have a mental health condition. Conduct disorder is part of a range of other behavioural disorders, such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Sometimes ODD can lead to conduct disorder.
Conduct disorder is linked with other conditions such as depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and learning disorders. Researchers don’t know what causes conduct disorder, but they think it is a mix of factors such as genetics, development, environment, life experiences, and trauma.
Who does it affect?
Conduct disorder is more common in boys than girls, and is more common in children with ADHD. It is more often seen in late childhood or the teenage years. Things like stress, family challenges, and unsafe environments can contribute to or worsen behaviours.
A mental health professional can diagnose conduct disorder using standardized criteria and asking questions about a child’s medical history, home environment, and school environment. Information from parents, caregivers, teachers, and other supportive adults is often important in understanding how a child behaves across many settings.
What can help?
Treatment for children with conduct disorders is complex and challenging. Treatment depends on how severe the behaviours are. Treatment may require support from a variety of professionals. Treatment can help children build on their strengths and learn new skills like managing emotions, understanding others (empathy), positive problem solving, and communication.
Behaviour therapy, counselling, or psychotherapy can be very helpful for children with conduct disorder. Goals of treatment include helping the child or teen understand how to express their feelings more positively and understand how their actions affect others.
Family counselling to strengthen parenting skills that encourage more positive behaviours is a necessary part of treatment. Involving school staff such as school psychologists, counsellors, and teachers helps provide coordinated care.
There are no medicines to directly treat conduct disorder, but many children with conduct disorder may also experience other mental health conditions, such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, or mood-related difficulties. There can sometimes be effectively managed with medicines as part of a broader treatment plan.
Many children improve with consistent and structured treatment. The earlier treatment begins, including regular home and school interventions and any needed medicines, the better for the child. Challenging behaviour that is not treated early can become more difficult to manage during adolescence and adulthood.
Your role
Caring for a child with conduct disorder can be very stressful. Children with conduct disorder can be impulsive and their behaviours can be challenging to manage. Your consistency in following the treatment plan, supporting and caring are key parts of the healing process. Don't try to manage it alone. Stay in close contact with school staff and let them know if something isn't working. Ask them and your child's medical treatment team for support.
Get help right away if your child's behaviour becomes more aggressive, or if there is danger to the safety of your child, other people, or animals.
The school staff and the medical team may also know of parent or family support groups that may be helpful to both parents and siblings as well.
What to watch for
Signs to watch for in children and teens include:
- Stealing or taking things that do not belong to them.
- Lying to get out of trouble or to get things or favours, lying for attention, or lying to manipulate situiations.
- Setting fires on purpose.
- Skipping school.
- Disregarding rules at home, school, or in the community.
- Running away from home.
- Breaking into places.
- Destroying others' property or deliberately damaging belongings.
- Bullying, threatening, or intimidating others.
- Being cruel to animals.
- Forcing sex on others.
- Physical fights (possibly with a weapon).
- Showing no empathy for the people or animals they have hurt.
- Showing little or no remorse for disruptive or dangerous behaviours.
- Academic difficulties.
Adaptation Date: 07/06/2026
Adapted By: Alberta Health Services
Adaptation Reviewed By: Alberta Health Services
