Childhood behaviour as related to subsequent drinking offences and violent offending: a prospective study of 11‐ to 14‐year‐old youths into their fourth decade

Abstract

Complex antisocial behaviours in adult life commonly represent persistence of complex childhood behavioural difficulties, but among young law breakers there does appear to be a subgroup of boys with a main problem of attention difficulties who go on to violent offending, even in the absence of early manifestation of aggression.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), substance use disorders, and criminality: a difficult problem with complex solutions

“…It has also been proposed that ADHD, in the absence of a comorbid CD, is not associated with higher rates of either criminal behavior (22,23,(86)(87)(88)(89) or recidivism (90,91). However, several studies have reported that ADHD, when controlling for early aggressive behavior, ODD, CD, antisocial personality disorder, or other psychiatric comorbidities, is still a potential risk factor for delinquency and criminal offences (24,48,71,84,(92)(93)(94). Gudjonsson et al (25) recently estimated that ADHD contribution to the variance in nonviolent and violent delinquency among 11,388 young (16-24 years old) students was 8.2% and 8.8%, respectively, but these effects were almost completely mediated by the presence of peer delinquency and comorbidities, particularly CD and SUD.…”

“…In some studies, hyperactivity during childhood has been shown to be a weak predictor of later criminality, whereas inattention has not been shown to be predictive of later criminality (70). Nevertheless, other authors have suggested positive correlations between both hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention symptomatic dimensions and novelty seeking, which is seemingly associated with more delinquent behavior (67,71,72). In addition, childhood physical aggression and peer victimization among ADHD children have been reported to be strong predictors of delinquent behavior and offending during adolescence or adulthood (70,73).…”

Monoamine Oxidase Activity and Tri-Iodothyronine Level in Violent Offenders with Early Behavioural Problems

“…In the smaller sample used in the present study, 69 boys had registered early criminality (D1: n = 42; D2: n = 27) and the control group consisted of 34 boys. Previous results have shown that the D2 group can be distinguished from the other groups concerning various problem behaviours [5] . Therefore the trichotomised variable was used in some of the analyses to enable studying the severity of early criminality in relation to biochemical measures.…”

“…This grouping was based on prior research on the same sample, in which a person-oriented approach revealed that these behaviours frequently co-occurred in the same individual [5] . Furthermore, boys with a combination of early criminality, attention diffi culties, with or without aggressive behaviour were found to have the highest risk for committing subsequent violent crimes.…”

“…of boys with attention diffi culties, who proceed to violent offending even in the absence of early manifestations of aggression [5] . However, aggressive behaviour was independently related to violent offending and a combination of all three early behavioural problems (early criminality, attention diffi culties and aggression) further increased the likelihood for violent offences.…”