Antisocial Personality and Substance Abuse Disorders

Abstract

The relationship between antisocial personality (ASP) disorder and drug and alcohol disorders was examined using data from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) gathered on a sample of 1,149 male prison inmates. The results of a linear canonical discriminant function analysis indicate differences among those with a DIS/ASP diagnosis that are related to the presence or absence of an accompanying substance abuse diagnosis: whites are more likely than nonwhites to receive the ASP diagnosis with a substance abuse diagnosis, and substance abuse appears to magnify ASP symptomatology. Diagnostic and clinical implications of findings are discussed.