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

Gustavson, Christina LU ; Stahlberg, Ola ; Sjodin, Anna-Kari ; Forsman, Anders ; Nilsson, Thomas and Anckarsäter, Henrik LU (2007) In Psychiatry Research 153(2). p.195-198
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... (More)
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. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Psychiatry Research
volume
153
issue
2
pages
195 - 198
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:17659353
  • wos:000251016500013
  • scopus:35148869558
ISSN
1872-7123
DOI
10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.020
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
10652329-7f9a-4ed5-84d2-ccffa420429b (old id 1139166)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 08:54:50
date last changed
2022-01-29 07:39:35
@article{10652329-7f9a-4ed5-84d2-ccffa420429b,
  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.}},
  author       = {{Gustavson, Christina and Stahlberg, Ola and Sjodin, Anna-Kari and Forsman, Anders and Nilsson, Thomas and Anckarsäter, Henrik}},
  issn         = {{1872-7123}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{195--198}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Psychiatry Research}},
  title        = {{Age at onset of substance abuse: a crucial covariate of psychopathic traits and aggression in adult offenders}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.020}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.psychres.2006.12.020}},
  volume       = {{153}},
  year         = {{2007}},
}