The Incredible Years Parents, Teachers, and Children Training Series: A multifaceted treatment approach for young children with conduct problems

Rates of early-onset conduct problems in preschool children are alarmingly high: 6–15% (Egger & Angold, 2006; Sawyer, 2000) and as high as 35% for low- income families (Webster- Stratton & Hammond, 1998). Developmental theorists have suggested that, compared to typical children, “early starter” delinquents who first exhibit conduct problems or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in the preschool years, have a two- to threefold risk of becoming tomorrow’s serious violent and chronic juvenile offenders (Loeber & Farrington, 2000; Loeber et al., 1993; Patterson, Capaldi, & Bank, 1991; Snyder, 2001; Tremblay et al., 2000). Indeed, the primary developmental pathway for serious conduct disorders (CDs) in adolescence and adulthood appears to be established during the preschool period. 

The current policy thrust is toward earlier intervention, because it addresses
early risk factors, before secondary risk factors have developed. For these reasons, The Incredible Years® (IY) treatment programs were designed to prevent and treat behavior problems when they first begin and to intervene in multiple settings with parents, teachers, and children. This approach to early intervention can counteract risk factors and strengthen protective factors, thereby helping to prevent a developmental trajectory toward increasingly aggressive and violent behaviors. This chapter reviews the IY programs and their associated research.

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