The relationship between conduct problems at age 8 years and teenage pregnancy by the ageof 18 years was analyzed in a birth cohort of 491 girls. A statistically significant association wasfound between early conduct problems and later risk of teenage pregnancy, with girls in the mostdisturbed 10% of the cohort having a pregnancy rate that was 5.3 times higher (p <.001) than the rate found in the least disturbed 50% of the cohort. The elevated risk of teenagepregnancy amongst girls with early conduct problems was in part, explained by social and familyfactors that were correlated with early conduct problems, and in part, by a causal chain process inwhich early conduct problems were associated with increased rates of risk taking behaviors inadolescence, which in turn led to an increased risk of teenage pregnancy. These results suggestthat the higher rate of teenage pregnancy among girls with early conduct problems reflected boththeir relatively disadvantaged family backgrounds and their tendencies to risk taking behavior inadolescence.