Impact and clinical significance of a preventive intervention for disruptive boys: 15-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND Many intervention programmes have attempted to reduce disruptive behaviour problems during early childhood to prevent maladjustment during adolescence and adulthood. AIMS To assess the long-term impact and clinical significance of a 2-year multicomponent preventive intervention on criminal behaviour and academic achievement, using intention-to-treat analyses. METHOD Targeted disruptive-aggressive boys considered to be at risk of later criminality and low school achievement (n=250), identified from a community sample (n=895), were randomly allocated to an intervention or a control group. The rest of the sample (n=645) served as the low-risk group. The intervention was multimodal and aimed at boys, parents and teachers. Official data measured both outcomes. RESULTS Significantly more boys in the intervention group (13%; P<0.05) completed high-school graduation and generally fewer (11%; P=0.06) had a criminal record compared with those allocated to the control group. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that early preventive intervention for those at high risk of antisocial behaviour is likely to benefit both the individuals concerned and society.