Adult antisocial behavior and its relationship to the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder in a longitudinal study of homelessness

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The relationship of adult antisocial behavior to the diagnosis of ASPD has not been investigated in homeless populations. This study examined ASPD and adult-only antisocial behavior in a 2-year prospective longitudinal study of literally homeless individuals in St. Louis, Missouri in 1999-2001. Methods: A subsample of 241 provided complete data from 3 annual interviews from a baseline systematically selected sample of 400 participants. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule provided psychiatric diagnoses; residential and criminal history were obtained by self report; and urine drug testing for illicit substances was completed at each assessment. Analyses compared substance use and criminal behavior among three subgroups: 1) those fulfilling both adult antisocial and child conduct components for ASPD (N = 56), 2) with the adult antisocial component, but not the child conduct one (adult-only: N = 128), and 3) with neither (N = 57). Results: The adult-only subgroup was consistently intermediate between the ASPD subgroup and the subgroup with neither component; however, all were disproportionately deviant on substance abuse and criminal involvement. Conclusion: Antisocial behavior patterns are far more prevalent than ASPD in homeless populations. Differences between individuals with adult-only antisocial behavior and ASPD in homeless populations indicate needs for different approaches.

KEYWORDS:

• Antisocial behavior
• homeless
• ASPD
• drug
• crime

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical standards

This study conformed to standards of the U.S. Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects.

Notes on contributors

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by grant R01 DA10713 to Dr. North from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Notes on contributors

Vinay S. Kotamarti

Vinay Kotamarti is a medical student at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He is a graduate of Rice University, earning a degree in Psychology. He has been involved in psychiatric research since 2016 and is pursuing a pre-doctoral research fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Carol North.

Carol S. North

Carol North holds The Nancy and Ray L. Hunt Chair in Crisis Psychiatry and is Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Emergency Medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She is also Director of the Division of Trauma and Disaster in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. North has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific published articles, served on scientific editorial boards, and chaired and served on committees for federal grant review and for development of terrorism policy for the Institute of Medicine. She testified to the US Senate, advised the State Department, the Carter Center, and the White House on disaster mental health; informed the FDA about post-traumatic stress; provided consultation to New York City’s Department of Health on post-9/11 mental health response; and served on a CDC Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee for the World Trade Center Health Program and on the CDC Board of Scientific Counselors, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response.

David E. Pollio

David E. Pollio, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Social Work and Department Chair, has long focused his work on making a difference in the real world. His practice career dates back more than 30 years and includes working with adolescents with behavioral issues, persons, and families coping with mental illness and addiction, runaway youth and adult homeless; and persons experiencing disaster. His research focuses on developing services for these and other populations and ranges from evaluating organizations, to developing new interventions, to using cutting edge technologies such as on-line social communities and virtual reality. In addition to his broad practice and research interests, Dr. Pollio has been a leader in the development of evidence-based education. His co-authored article on this topic was one of the 10 most cited articles in the field of Social Work in the last decade, and his work on this topic has won him the Pro Humanitate Literary Medal and Journal of Social Work Education Empirical Article of the Year (with Dr. Lisa Baker). His passion for education is nationally recognized, as evidenced by his being named in 2014 to the editorial board of the leading journal on Social Work education.