Conduct Disorder Scale (CDS)

Purpose: To evaluate students exhibiting severe behaviour problems who may have Conduct Disorder

Ages: 5 – 22 years

Time: 5 to 10 minutes

The Conduct Disorder Scale (CDS) is an efficient and effective instrument for evaluating students exhibiting severe behaviour problems who may have Conduct Disorder. It is the only test of its kind that provides standard scores for use in identifying students with Conduct Disorder.

The 40 items on the CDS describe the specific diagnostic behaviours characteristic of persons with Conduct Disorder. The items comprise four subscales representing the core symptom clusters necessary for the diagnosis of Conduct Disorder:

1. Aggressive Conduct
2. Non-aggressive Conduct
3. Deceitfulness and Theft
4. Rule Violations.

The CDS is designed to help in the diagnosis of Conduct Disorder and can be administered by anyone who has had direct, sustained contact with the referred individual (e.g., teachers, parents, siblings, etc.). Items on the subscales have strong face validity because they are based on the diagnostic criteria for Conduct Disorder published in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fourth Edition-Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR).

Key Features

• 40 items in a behavioural checklist format are easily rated using objective frequency-based ratings
• A detailed interview form (derived from DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria) is provided to document infrequent but serious behaviour problems that are indicative of persons who have Conduct Disorder
• Norms were developed based on 644 representative individuals with Conduct Disorder
• The amount of time required for completing a rating on an individual is minimal (approximately 5 to 10 minutes in most cases)
• Standard scores and percentiles are provided. A Conduct Disorder Quotient is derived based on information from all four subscales
• The Conduct Disorder Quotient is an interpretation guide provided for determining the likelihood that a participant has Conduct Disorder and the severity of the disorder