Results of the study indicate a consistent pattern across the life course of oppositional defiant problems increasing the likelihood of future property and violent offending. In addition, the value of using Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM)-oriented scales was demonstrated. Research has long suggested comorbidity between mental health and poor life course outcomes such as delinquency. It is thought that the early identification of mental illness in youth is an important goal in examining the relationship between mental disorder and offending. This study applied DSM-oriented scales to a community sample of youth using both multiple informants and prospective data and explored the onset and prevalence of childhood mental disorders as it predicted offending across different stages of the life course within the PHDCN dataset. DSM-oriented scales that allow for distinctions between normal, borderline, and clinical levels of mental health problems were used in logistic regressions to predict the odds of offending across four stages of development. Tables, figures, note, and references