Child conduct problems and socio-economic status

Conduct problems during childhood and adolescence, including fighting, lying and stealing, impact upon well-being and can influence young people’s opportunities as they grow up. This also has important social implications for victims, local communities and wider society, in addition to financial costs.

The social gradient whereby children from less advantaged backgrounds are more likely to exhibit conduct problems is well documented. However, the reasons for this gradient are not fully understood.

This event marks the culmination of research led by Professor Richard Rowe at the University of Sheffield. As part of a three-year, Nuffield-funded project, Professor Rowe and his team produced a synthesis of existing research into mechanisms thought to link social status and conduct problems – including the negative impacts low-income can have on factors such as parenting, family functioning and parental mental health – and conducted new analysis of large-scale longitudinal data. The findings highlight negative impacts of child conduct problems on broader family functioning.

Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss the team’s findings, hear views from a range of policy and practice perspectives on these issues and address a key question raised by the research: should conduct problem intervention be a higher priority given the negative effects on families and society?