Early behaviors predictive of later delinquency include aggression, drug use, truancy, lying, stealing, general problem behavior, and low educational achievement. Juvenile conduct problems traced to families are rooted in genetic predispositions to delinquency and learned behavior in response to family dynamics and parental and sibling role modeling. The conflict model indicates that frequent aggressive interchanges between family members reflect ineffective disciplinary skills that contribute to the escalation of aggression. This model has been the focus of most of the behaviorally oriented interventions, notably training in parenting skills. These programs are most effective when used with high-risk families to prevent rather than remedy existing delinquency. These programs can be improved by developing more precise subject selection methods and targeting specific behaviors. The education of high school students in parenting is a promising community preventive undertaking, and government intervention can eliminate some of the objective conditions that foster delinquency and encourage conditions that inhibit it. Nine specific suggestions in this regard are outlines. 2 notes and 120 references.