With these limitations in mind, the following implications of these findings for research and practice can be considered. First, the disproportionate service use across multiple sectors by those on the LCP pathway in adulthood provides yet another reason to support policies and practices designed to support children exhibiting early-onset and persistent conduct problems. The extent of the cost reduction associated with such a strategy will be dependent on the causal nature of the relationship between early conduct problems and later service use, a question that cannot be addressed here. However, evidence from randomized treatment studies suggests that early behavioral interventions can effectively reduce conduct problems (Hutchings et al., 2007; Scott, Briskman, & O’Connor, 2014; Woolfenden, Williams, & Peat, 2002), and that such reductions are associated with decreased service usage through adolescence and, for some, into young adulthood (Bonin, Stevens, Beecham, Byford, & Parsonage, 2011; Dodge et al., 2015; Edwards, Ceilleachair, Bywater, Hughes, & Hutchings, 2007).
