Development of Adult
Antisocial Behavior
Chapter 14
Thomas J. Dishion and Kristina Hiatt Racer
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
 Historically, there have been two predominant
philosophical perspectives on the origins of antisocial
behavior:
 Antisocial qualities are considered to be innate and
characterological.
 Antisocial qualities are acquired through poor socialization.
 A more current transactional or diathesis–stress
perspective incorporates the idea that the same
outcome (e.g., persistent antisocial behavior) may be
due, across individuals, to a relatively greater
contribution of either internal vulnerabilities or
environmental risks.
TERMINOLOGICAL, CONCEPTUAL, AND
DIAGNOSTIC ISSUES
 Current DSMV-IV diagnostic criteria for ASPD include a
pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights
of others, as indicated by three or more of the following:
 Failure to conform to social norms regarding lawful behaviors as
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indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest
Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or
conning others for personal pleasure or profit
Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead
Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical
fights or assaults
Reckless disregard for the safety of self or others
Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain
consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations
Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing
having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another
TERMINOLOGICAL, CONCEPTUAL, AND
DIAGNOSTIC ISSUES
 Among children and adolescents, persistent antisocial
behavior may lead to a diagnosis of ODD or CD.
 In individuals age 18 years or older, persistent
antisocial behavior may lead to a diagnosis of ASPD.
 Discussion of ASPD overlaps to some degree with the
terms dyssocial personality, sociopathy, and
psychopathy.
 There continues to be active debate about the DSM
ASPD construct and whether it should remain
behavioral and objective or include some or all of the
personality characteristics of psychopathy.
PREVALENCE
 The 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey
indicated a lifetime prevalence rate of 3.6% for
ASPD, with risk being 3 times greater among men
than among women (Compton, Conway, Stinson, Colliver, & Grant,
2005; Grant et al., 2004).
 The lifetime prevalence of adult antisocial behavior
only (not meeting the childhood CD criterion) was
12.3%, and the prevalence of retrospectively
reported CD in childhood without antisocial
behavior in adulthood was 1.1% (Compton et al., 2005).
 Estimates of ASPD prevalence within incarcerated
populations range from 49% to 80% (Widiger & Corbitt,
1995).
RISK FACTORS
 Childhood conduct problems are perhaps the best
single predictor of adult ASPD.
 Earlier onset of conduct problems is associated
with greater risk of persistence into adulthood (Moffitt,
1993, 2006).
 Not all youth with conduct problems continue to
show antisocial behavior in adulthood.
 Childhood abuse and neglect may be particularly
important in the etiology of ASPD.
RISK FACTORS
 Neurobiological risk factors may play a role in
early-onset and persisting antisocial behavior
(Moffitt,
1993).
 Antisocial behavior tends to run in families
(Farrington et
al., 1996).
GxE
 Genetic risk for problem behavior in adolescence and
adulthood was completely eliminated by parental
monitoring practices in adolescence (Dick et al., 2009).
 Substance use and abuse
ETIOLOGY AND TRANSACTIONAL
PROGRESSIONS
 Onset Pattern
 The most important etiological consideration is when the
antisocial behavior emerged during development and the
transactional factors that account for amplification of
childhood antisocial behaviors through adolescence to
more serious forms in adulthood.
 Parenting
• Coercion Theory
• During childhood to adolescence, caregivers giving negative feedback
reinforces the problem behavior.
• Coercive interactions between the parent and child consist of a cycle of
intrusive demands, compliance refusals, escalating distress and
negative affect, and finally, withdrawal of the demand.
ETIOLOGY AND TRANSACTIONAL
PROGRESSIONS
 A core feature of antisocial behavior in adulthood,
believed to be linked to psychopathy, is callousness/lack
of remorse.
 Peer-related pathways:
• Antisocial behavior interferes with positive peer relations, depriving
children of the positive benefits of peer learning and confining them
within marginal social niches.
• Children may act as models and a source of reinforcement for
antisocial behavior.
• As children develop friendship networks, support for antisocial
behavior is established by providing both reinforcement and
opportunity for such behavior within networks of deviant peers.
ETIOLOGY AND TRANSACTIONAL
PROGRESSIONS
Figure 14.1. A model for the amplification of antisocial behavior to violence.
COMORBIDITY, SEX DIFFERENCES,
AND CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
 ASPD may co-occur with any one or more of the
following:
 ADHD, substance abuse, externalizing syndromes, anxiety
disorders, depression.
 Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to receive a diagnosis
of ASPD (Hesselbrock, Meyer, & Keener, 1985).
 The prognosis and correlates of ASPD appear to be
similar for men and women (Cale & Lilienfeld, 2002).
 Family- and neighborhood-level risk factors, such as
poverty, unemployment, single parenthood, and low
income, often co-occur with ethnic minority status.
THEORETICAL SYNTHESIS AND
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Figure 14.2 A model for self-regulation in the development of problem behavior. Adapted from
Dishion and Patterson, 2006.
THEORETICAL SYNTHESIS AND
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
 Relationship Dynamics
 Dynamic systems approach can produce measures such
as stable relationship patterns (attractors), abrupt
changes in the system (phase transitions), and the overall
predictability of the system (entropy).
 Self-Regulation
 Moderator of relationship dynamics
 Cultural differences
 Biosocial Factors
 Linking G × E interactions with behavioral and
physiological measures.
THEORETICAL SYNTHESIS AND
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
 Sociocultural Factors
 Systematically apply and evaluate systems-level policies
and interventions for improving sociocultural contexts and
reducing antisocial behavior.
 Defining Disorders
 Future research must build upon the ASPD construct to
examine issues such as:
• Whether ASPD differs in nature from less severe or persistent
forms of antisocial behavior
• Whether the development (and treatment) of persistent antisocial
behavior can be better understood by disaggregating ASPD into
more homogenous groupings