Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:1290-1293
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
Childhood antecedents of antisocial behavior: parental alcoholism and physical abusiveness
VE Pollock, J Briere, L Schneider, J Knop, SA Mednick and DW Goodwin
Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles.
Hierarchical logistic regression was used to assess the independent and
interactive effects of paternal alcoholism and physical child abuse on
antisocial behavior in young adult men. Men with alcoholic fathers (N =
131) did not report or exhibit more antisocial behavior than comparison
subjects (N = 70). Men with physical abuse histories, however, reported
more aggressive and antisocial behaviors during a clinical interview and
were rated by a clinical interviewer as more likely to act out aggression.
Arrest records did not distinguish the groups. There was no evidence that
paternal alcoholism and childhood victimization interacted to increase the
risk of antisocial behavior.
