Does anxiety mitigate the behavioral expression of severe conduct disorderin delinquent youths?

The purpose of this article is to examine the purported attenuating effects of comorbid anxiety on conduct disturbance in a sample of youths exhibitin g severe Conduct Disorder (CD). Further, we examined the differential expre ssion of CD and comorbid anxiety in male and female youths. Seventy-nine in carcerated youths between the ages of 12 and 19 were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Youths were identified who exhi bited CD and CD plus an anxiety disorder. In contrast to previous findings with younger, less seriously disturbed male subjects, no overall difference s were found between CD anxious and CD nonanxious youths in terms of age of first offense and overall number and severity of delinquent acts. Moreover , no differences were found between males and females, and gender did not m oderate the effects of comorbidity anxiety on outcome measures. Findings su ggest purported mitigating effects of anxiety on conduct disturbance may be attenuated in severe forms of CD and support the notion that comorbidity a cross internalizing End externalizing domains of child and adolescent psych opathology may differentially impact clinical presentation of disordered be havior depending on the severity of externalizing behavioral disturbance. ( C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.