Evaluating preventive interventions in children with behavioral disorders

Behavioral disorders in childhood predict antisocial and delinquent behavior in adulthood. As prevention becomes more important, preventive interventions have been developed and evaluated in several countries. This article presents an overview of evaluated preventive interventions of the last ten years, targeted at children at high risk of conduct disorder. Most preventive interventions report promising results; a substantial number, however, had little or no effect. Successful interventions are multimodal, directed at multiple risk factors across different settings, and succeeded in motivating parents to participate regularly.