Sep 15, 2014 12:36 PM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Aggressive children who receive early intervention are less likely to become violent criminals or psychiatrically troubled adults, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Duke, Pennsylvania State and Vanderbilt universities and the University of Washington found that young children who participate in a violence prevention organization have fewer convictions for violent and drug-related crimes, lower rates of serious substance abuse, lower rates of risky sexual behavior and fewer psychiatric problems than the control group.

"We can prevent serious violence and psychopathology among the group of children who are highest-risk," researcher Kenneth Dodge said in a statement. "That's the essential finding from this study. It provides the strongest evidence yet that, far from being doomed from an early age, at-risk children can be helped to live productive lives."

Beginning in 1991, the research team  screened nearly 10,000 5-year-old children in Durham, Nashville, Seattle and rural Pennsylvania for aggressive behavior problems, identifying those who were at highest risk of growing up to become violent, antisocial adults. Nearly 900 children were deemed at high risk, and of those, half were randomly assigned to receive the Fast Track intervention, while the other half were assigned to a control group. Participating children and their families received an array of interventions at school and at home.

The Fast Track Project is a multi-faceted program that is one of the largest violence-prevention trials ever funded by the federal government.

When program participants turned 25, researchers reviewed court records and conducted interviews with participants and control group members, as well as individuals who knew the participants well.

Along with fewer criminal convictions, Fast Track participants had lower rates of antisocial personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder, lower rates of risky sexual behavior and lower rates of harsh parenting. The latter finding suggests that the intervention may interrupt the inter-generational cycle of problem behavior.

"This study adds to the experimental evidence for the important role that environment plays," Dodge said. "Genes do not write an inalterable script for a child's life. And not only does the environment matter greatly in a child's development, we've shown that you can intervene and help that child succeed in life."

Fast Track's positive effects do not come cheap. The 10-year intervention costs $58,000 per child.

However, Dodge said that cost should be weighed against the millions of dollars that each chronic criminal costs society in imprisonment and harm to others.

The findings were recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

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