Ace the 2026 PANCE Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine Test – Unlock the Mind’s Secrets!

Conduct disorder in youth often becomes antisocial personality disorder in adulthood when the same pattern of disregarding others’ rights and social norms persists beyond adolescence. The defining thread is a pervasive, long-standing pattern—repeated rule-breaking, deceit or manipulation, impulsivity or aggression, and a consistent lack of remorse or guilt. Antisocial personality disorder requires this history starting by adolescence, with conduct disorder evident before age 15, and continuing into adulthood. The other personality disorders describe different core features—histrionic is dramatic and attention-seeking, narcissistic centers on grandiosity and entitlement, and schizotypal involves odd beliefs and social awkwardness—without the developmental trajectory from childhood conduct problems.