Table 2.
DSM-5 definition of conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder
| Oppositional defiant disorder | Conduct disorder |
| A pattern of angry/irritable mood, argumentative/defiant behavior, or vindictiveness lasting at least 6 mo as evidenced by at least four out of 8 symptoms from any of the following categories, and exhibited during interaction with at least one individual who is not a sibling | A repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of at least three of the following 15 criteria in the past 12 mo from any of the categories below, with at least one criterion present in the past 6 mo |
| Aggression to people and animals: (1) Often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others; (2) Often initiates physical fights; (3) Has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun); (4) Has been physically cruel to people; (5) Has been physically cruel to animals; (6) Has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery); (7) Has forced someone into sexual activity | |
| Angry/irritable mood: (1) Often loses temper; (2) Is often touchy or easily annoyed; (3) Is often angry and resentful | |
| Argumentative/defiant behavior: (4) Often argues with authority figures or, for children and adolescents, with adults; (5) Often actively defies or refuses to comply with requests from authority figures or with rules; (6) Often deliberately annoys others; (7) Often blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior | |
| Destruction of property: (8) Has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage; (9) Has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting) | |
| Deceitfulness or theft: (10) Has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car; (11) Often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others); (12) Has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery) | |
| Vindictiveness: (8) Has been spiteful or vindictive at least twice within the past 6 mo | |
| Serious violations of rules: (13) Often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 yr; (14) Has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in the parental or parental surrogate home, or once without returning for a lengthy period; (15) Is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 yr | |
| Note: The persistence and frequency of these behaviors should be used to distinguish a behavior that is within normal limits from a behavior that is symptomatic and the behavior should occur at least once per week for at least 6 mo | |
| The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning | |
| The disturbance in behavior is associated with distress in the individual or others in his or her immediate social context (e.g., family, peer group, work colleagues), or it impacts negatively on social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning | If the individual is age 18 yr or older, criteria are not met for antisocial personality disorder |
| Specify whether: Childhood-onset type (prior to age 10 yr); Adolescent-onset type or Unspecified onset | |
| Specify if: With limited prosocial emotions: Lack of remorse or guilt; Callous-lack of empathy; Unconcerned about performance or Shallow or deficient affect | |
| Specify current severity: Mild; Moderate or Severe | |
| The behaviors do not occur exclusively during the course of a psychotic, substance use, depressive, or bipolar disorder. Also, the criteria are not met for disruptive mood dysregulation disorder | ICD-10 |
| It also requires the presence of three symptoms from the list of 15 (above), and duration of at least 6 mo. There are four divisions of conduct disorder: Socialised conduct disorder, unsocialised conduct disorder, conduct disorders confined to the family context and oppositional defiant disorder | |
| Specify current severity: Mild; moderate or severe based on number of settings with symptoms shown |