For some time, it has been known that children who show high rates of aggressive conduct problems at school entry are at elevated risk for developing “life-course persistent” patterns of criminal activity and maladjustment (Dishion and Patterson 2006). A number of studies also suggest that they are likely to precociously initiate cigarette smoking (Joun et al. 2002), alcohol use (Capaldi et al. 1996), and risky sexual activity, experiencing heightened risk for adolescent pregnancy, STDs, and HIV/AIDS (Capaldi et al. 1996; Ramrakha et al. 2007). The present study extended this research by applying recently-developed LCA techniques to better understand variation in the risk profiles of children growing up with the vulnerabilities conferred by early conduct problems and socio-economic disadvantage. This person-oriented approach enabled an exploration of heterogeneity in profiles of emerging adolescent risk among aggressive youth.
