Does anxiety mitigate the behavioral expression of severe conduct disorder in 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 exhibiting severe Conduct Disorder (CD). Further, we examined the differential expression of CD and comorbid anxiety in male and female youths. Seventy-nine incarcerated youths between the ages of 12 and 19 were interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Youths were identified who exhibited CD and CD plus an anxiety disorder. In contrast to previous findings with younger, less seriously disturbed male subjects, no overall differences 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 moderate the effects of comorbidity anxiety on outcome measures. Findings suggest purported mitigating effects of anxiety on conduct disturbance may be attenuated in severe forms of CD and support the notion that comorbidity across internalizing and externalizing domains of child and adolescent psychopathology may differentially impact clinical presentation of disordered behavior depending on the severity of externalizing behavioral disturbance.