Age at onset of substance abuse: A crucial covariate of psychopathic traits and aggression in adult offenders

Gustavson, Christina; Ståhlberg, Ola; Sjödin, Anna-Kari; Forsman, Anders; Nilsson, Thomas; Anckarsäter, Henrik

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.020

« Previous Next »Psychiatry Research
Volume 153, Issue 2 , Pages 195-198, 31 October 2007

Age at onset of substance abuse: A crucial covariate of psychopathic traits and aggression in adult offenders

Christina Gustavson
- Institute of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
Ola Ståhlberg
- Institute of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- The National Board of Institutional Care, Sweden
Anna-Kari Sjödin
- Institute of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry in Göteborg, The National Board of Forensic Medicine, Sweden
Anders Forsman
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry in Göteborg, The National Board of Forensic Medicine, Sweden
- Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Göteborg University, Sweden
Thomas Nilsson
- Institute of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Department of Forensic Psychiatry in Göteborg, The National Board of Forensic Medicine, Sweden
Henrik Anckarsäter
- Institute of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
- Corresponding author. Forensic Psychiatric Clinic, Malmö University Hospital, Lund University, Sege Park 8A, 205 02 MALMÖ, Sweden. Tel.: +46 40 33 40 31; fax: +46 40 33 41 27.

Received 10 March 2006; received in revised form 8 August 2006; accepted 16 December 2006.

Abstract

To examine age at onset of substance abuse in relation to other factors of relevance to criminal behavior, we compared Life History of Aggression (LHA) scores, traits of psychopathy according to the Psychopathy Checklist — Revised (PCL-R), and violent recidivism in 100 violent offenders with early (before the age of 18) versus late onset of abuse or dependence. Of 56 subjects with a history of alcohol and/or drug abuse, an early onset was ascertained in 31. The duration of abuse did not correlate with the LHA and PCL-R scores or with violent recidivism, but the age at onset correlated strongly with all these factors and also remained their strongest correlate in multivariate models including childhood-onset attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, and drug abuse as covariates. Strong mathematical associations with aggression, psychopathy, and recidivism pointed to age at onset of substance abuse as a marker of possible complications that require preventive social, educational and medical measures.

Keywords: Forensic psychiatry, Alcohol, Violence, the Psychopathy Checklist — Revised, Life History of Aggression, Mathematical prediction