The Fast Track intervention design was based on evidence that children with early-starting conduct problems are at increased risk for later disorder due to a cascade of social adjustment failures in family, school, and peer contexts (CPPRG, 1992; Dodge et al., 2008). High-risk children typically enter school with a risk burden that crosses multiple domains. Early deficits in emotion regulation and behavioral control are exacerbated by dysfunctional parenting and other stressors in the home environment (Moffitt, 1993; Dodge & McCourt, 2010). Exposure to harsh parenting contributes to the child’s tendency to perceive benign social challenges as threatening and to respond with “reactive aggression” (Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1990). For such children, an accidental bump on the playground from a classmate may be perceived as a hostile provocation requiring an aggressive response. Aggressive children are more likely than their peers to experience social rejection and academic failure in elementary school. This in turn increases the likelihood that they will affiliate with deviant peers in middle school and escalate their involvement in delinquency, violence, and substance abuse through high school and young adulthood (Dodge et al., 2008).
