Disruptive Behavior Disorders

What Symptoms Should Parents Look For?

Children with oppositional defiant disorder often lose their temper. They are quick to argue with adults over rules or requests. They are likely to:

• Be uncooperative
• Argue, even about small and unimportant things
• Refuse to follow rules
• Deliberately annoy others, and become easily annoyed by other people
• Blame others for their mistakes or misbehavior
• Behave in angry, resentful, spiteful and vindictive ways

Anyone is capable of displaying any of these behaviors. Children with oppositional defiant disorder display them more often than others their age. They are likely to be involved in frequent conflicts with their peers, and they often face discipline at school.

Children and teens who have conduct disorder are likely to:

• Lack respect or regard for others
• Be aggressive toward other people or animals
• Bully and intimidate others
• Willfully destroy property
• Steal and lie without feeling bad about it
• Be truant frequently
• Run away from home

What Causes Disruptive Behavior Disorders?

Disruptive behavior disorders are thought to spring from different factors working together:

Heredity. Children with disruptive behavior disorders often have parents with mental health disorders, including

• Substance abuse.
• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
• A mood disorder.
• Schizophrenia.
• Antisocial personality disorder.

However, affected children have also been known to come from healthy families that function well.

Environment. There is an increased risk for disruptive behavior disorders among children who were:

• Rejected by their mothers as infants.
• Separated from their parents.
• Recipients of poor foster care.
• Physically, emotionally or sexually abused or neglected.
• Recipients of inconsistent, overly harsh, or otherwise ineffective discipline.
• Lacking adequate parental or other adult supervision.

In addition, children who have lived in poverty, or witnessed domestic violence or substance abuse, are at a greater risk for developing the disorders.

Physical. There is a greater risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders among children who:

• Had low birth weight.
• Have suffered neurological damage.

Psychological. Children who have suffered from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at a higher risk for developing disruptive behavior disorders.

Up to one-half of all children with ADHD may have coexisting oppositional defiant disorder.

How Are Disruptive Behavior Disorders Diagnosed?

Disruptive behavior disorders can be difficult to diagnose. This is because children and adolescents living with anxiety, depression, chronic stress and other conditions may act out in ways that seem like a disruptive behavior disorder.

These behaviors may be associated with another condition such as depression or anxiety. A licensed practitioner will completely review your child’s symptoms to determine his or her diagnosis. 

How Are Disruptive Behavior Disorders Treated?

Children with disruptive behavior disorders often benefit from special behavioral techniques. These can be implemented at home and at school. Therapeutic approaches typically include:

• Interventions that help parents more successfully manage their child’s behaviors by increasing structure, consistency and use of effective strategies
• Adult-implemented positive reinforcement strategies to increase appropriate behavior
• Adult-implemented discipline strategies to reduce negative behaviors
• Training children to become more aware of their own anger cues and to manage strong emotions

If a child has a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, parents may wish to consult with their school to see if it may be beneficial to place them in a special classroom set up to more easily provide effective behavioral interventions.

When Should You Seek Help for Disruptive Behavior Disorders?

Children with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder are challenging to live with. Parents need to understand that they do not have to deal with their ODD/CD child alone.

Interventions such as parent training at home and behavioral support in the school can make a difference. Parents should not hesitate to ask for assistance from a mental health professional.

Medical Reviewer: Benjamin Fields, PhD, and Kelly L. Wesolowski, PsyD, Nationwide Children's Hospital

Date Last Reviewed:  8/4/2025

The information provided here is only for general reference and should not take the place of medical care or patient education. If you have any questions, please call your child's care team.