Antisocial personality disorder as a predictor of criminal behaviour in a longitudinal study of a cohort of abusers of several classes of drugs: relation to type of substance and type of crime

Addict Behav. 2008 Jun;33(6):799-811. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.01.001. Epub 2008 Jan 12.

Abstract

Mixed findings have been made with regard to the long-term predictive validity of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on criminal behaviour in samples of substance abusers. A longitudinal record-linkage study of a cohort of 1052 drug abusers admitted 1977-1995 was undertaken. Subjects were recruited from a detoxification and short-term rehabilitation unit in Lund, Sweden, and followed through criminal justice registers from their first treatment episode to death or to the year 2004. In a ML multinomial random effects regression, subjects diagnosed with antisocial personality disorders were 2.16 times more likely to be charged with theft only (p<0.001), and 2.44 times more likely to be charged committing multiple types of crime during an observation year (p<0.001). The findings of the current study support the predictive validity of the DSM-III-R diagnosis of ASPD. ASPD should be taken seriously in drug abusers, and be targeted in treatment to prevent crime in society.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Amphetamine-Related Disorders / psychology
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / psychology*
  • Crime*
  • Criminal Psychology
  • Female
  • Fraud
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Medical Record Linkage
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / psychology
  • Probability
  • Regression Analysis
  • Risk Assessment / methods
  • Substance-Related Disorders / psychology*
  • Sweden
  • Theft
  • Time
  • Violence