A retrospective examination of antisocial and risk-taking behaviours

Abstract

Engagement in antisocial and risk-taking behaviours is a recurring issue that has been associated with a range of negative outcomes for the individual, community, and society. This research explored factors that influenced engagement and co-occurring behaviours. Responses (n = 393) from an Australian sample who completed the Antisocial Engagement Questionnaire showed that the majority of the behaviours of interest were associated, indicating that engagement in one behaviour was associated with engagement in additional antisocial and risk-taking behaviours. Engagement in antisocial behaviours was also associated with increased substance consumption. An investigation into the associations between 15 substance-related behaviours found that use of one substance was associated with the use of additional substances. The findings have implications for understanding the development of an antisocial lifestyle, the associations between behaviours, the findings build on research relating to behaviour prediction and will assist clinicians working with at-risk individuals and intervention design.

Keywords:

• antisocial behaviour
• behaviour prediction
• co-engagement
• poly-substance use
• risk-taking

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no acknowledgements or conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

Declaration of conflicts of interest.

Kimberley A. Brindle has declared no conflicts of interest.

Terence V. Bowles has declared no conflicts of interest.

Elizabeth Freeman has declared no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (add as appropriate) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study