The paper presents an overview of the developmental aspect of the hyperkinetic syndrome (ADHD) and behavioural disorders in children and adolescents. The early onset of behavioural disorders is frequently predicted by a concurrent hyperkinetic disorder. The temperamental factor in early childhood predicts behavioural disor- ders in adolescence and adulthood. The more intense the behavioural disorders during the childhood, the higher risk of the development of an asocial personality disorder in adulthood. But this interdependence is not valid for the hyperkinetic syndrome without comorbidity. The combination of several perinatal complications which may lead to the hyperkinetic syndrome and subsequent rejection of the child by the parents predicts his/her criminal behaviour in late adolescence and in adulthood. This situation points to the significance of the combination of biological and social factors in the genesis of significant social pathology. This paper considers also some other social and genetic factors in the prediction of behavioural disorders in adolescence and adulthood.

        Key words: behavioural disorders, children and adolescents, genetic aspects, development