This article examines family stress dynamics and conduct disorder trajectories prospectively in the lives of adolescents from the Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth (n = 1,319). Semi-parametric mixture models are used to identify distinct trajectories of conduct disorder, poverty, and family structure. We specify criminogenic features of dynamic family strains with multivariate models. Results highlight the protective role of family stability over time where having always lived in a single-parent family does not elevate the odds of belonging to the riskier conduct disorder groups. Furthermore, poverty duration is also salient where non-chronic exposure is associated with conduct disorder desistance. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
