Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:670-674
Copyright © 1994 by American Psychiatric Association
Antisocial personality disorder in abused and neglected children grown up
BK Luntz and CS Widom
University at Albany School of Criminal Justice, NY 12222.
OBJECTIVE: the authors' goal in this study was to examine the extent to
which having been abused and/or neglected in childhood raises a person's
risk for having an adult DSM-III-R diagnosis of antisocial personality
disorder. METHOD: Children who had experienced substantiated child abuse
and/or neglect from 1967 to 1971 in a Midwestern metropolitan county area
were matched on the basis of age, race, sex, and approximate family social
class with a group of nonabused and nonneglected children and followed
prospectively into young adulthood. Subjects were located and participated
in a 2-hour interview consisting of a series of structured and
semistructured questions, rating scales, and a psychiatric assessment using
the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule.
Interviews were completed with 699 young adult subjects (416 abused and/or
neglected and 283 comparison subjects). RESULTS: Childhood victimization
was a significant predictor of the number of lifetime symptoms of
antisocial personality disorder and of a diagnosis of antisocial
personality disorder, despite the fact that controls for demographic
characteristics and arrest history were introduced. CONCLUSIONS: These
findings suggest the importance of inquiring about a patient's childhood
history of abuse and/or neglect when antisocial symptoms are evident. In
addition to speculation about a possible saturation model for the
consequences of childhood victimization, these findings also reinforce a
multiple causation model of antisocial personality disorder.
