Objective

To examine the young adult physical health outcomes of adolescent girls with behavior problems.

Method

Girls with conduct disorder, girls with depression, girls with anxiety, and healthy girls (N = 459) who had been evaluated at age 15 years were followed up at age 21, when general physical health, substance dependence, and reproductive health were assessed.

Results

After control for potentially confounding variables including prior health, adolescent conduct disorder predicted more medical problems, poorer self-reported overall health, lower body mass index, alcohol and/or marijuana dependence, tobacco dependence, daily smoking, more lifetime sexual partners, sexually transmitted disease, and early pregnancy. Adolescent depression predicted only adult tobacco dependence and more medical problems; adolescent anxiety predicted more medical problems.

Conclusions

The robust link between female adolescent conduct disorder and poor physical health in adulthood suggests that intervention with girls who have conduct disorder may be a strategy for preventing subsequent health problems.