A profile of aggression from adolescence to adulthood: an 18-year follow-up of psychiatrically disturbed and violent adolescents.

An 18-year follow-up of 66 aggressive and disturbed adolescents admitted to the children's unit of a large mental hospital in 1960 reveals a high degree of antisocial and criminal behavior persisting into adulthood, with lessening psychiatric involvement as the subjects matured. Factors contributing to this pattern of continuing antisocial behavior are identified, and implications for treatment programs are considered.