pattern in which externalizing behavior is highest early in adolescence (though with mean levels still in the normal range), and there is a gradual decline in externalizing behavior as individuals age toward young adulthood. In addition, parallel to Moffitt's theory, we find a group of individuals who persist in their externalizing behavior across time. Though we do not suggest that all of these individuals are necessarily “life-course persistent” antisocial individuals, it is interesting nonetheless that in a community sample of general externalizing behavior, as assessed using a measure that includes both potentially clinically symptomatic conduct problems (eg, getting into fights, running away from home, stealing) as well as less severe behaviors such as arguing, being loud, and bragging, we observe patterns of both persistence and normative patterns of both persistence in externalizing behavior and normative declines in externalizing behavior as the individual matures.
