Trends in appropriate adult functioning and biasing risks in longitudinal follow-ups of boys with conduct disorders

Multiple telephone follow-up interviews have been conducted for a number of years for boys with conduct disorders treated at the Saint Francis Academy. These follow-ups are done 2 years and 5 years after treatment completion and again after the boy's 24th birthday. An overall appropriate adult functioning (AAF) score is obtained for each boy contacted. Because the attrition rate is very low, these data provide an opportunity to investigate the stability of treatment effects over time. A substantial attempt was made to investigate the possibility that mean group changes in AAF over time might be due to differential attrition effects. Two separate analyses indicated that an attrition effect was not a major influence in AAF score changes. AAF was relatively stable between the 2- and 5-year follow-ups and showed some improvement.