Editorial: Using Parents' Past to Predict Children's Future: Parental History of Mental Disorders as a Predictor of Outcomes in Children With Disruptive Behavior.

Numerous studies show that children with conduct problems are at risk for experiencing poor economic, social, and health outcomes as they grow older. Risk for poor outcomes is particularly high for children who first display conduct problems at a young age, before age 10 years. However, even among this high-risk group of children, there is considerable heterogeneity in life outcomes. Approximately one-third of children with early-onset conduct problems will follow a trajectory of life-course persistent antisocial behavior, along with marked functional impairment.1 The remaining children appear to "grow out of" their problem behavior, and achieve relatively good outcomes.1 This observation creates a challenge for interventionists: if the presence of conduct problems and their age-of-onset cannot distinguish between children with different prognoses, how does one identify who is most in need of treatment? To answer this question, knowledge is needed about factors that predict differential outcomes among children with early-onset conduct problems. The study by Roetman et al.2 in this issue of the Journal examines one such potential factor: parental history of mental disorders.