Clinical and behavioral correlates in adult methamphetamine users with childhood exposure to household drug and alcohol use

Aims: To describe and compare methamphetamine (MA) users with and without a family history of alcohol or drug () use in the household. Design: A total of 1144 Thai-speaking MA users in Thailand were recruited for a cohort study. Cross-sectional baseline data were analyzed according to their exposure to FAOD use (FAOD+/FAOD-). The Semi-Structured Assessment for Drug Dependence and Alcoholism (SSADDA) was utilized to collect baseline socio-demographic information and variables known to be associated with the impact of FAOD use. Findings: FAOD+ participants had lower average years of education (p<0.01), fewer average months of employment in the past year (p<0.01) and reported higher rates of self-harm experience (p<0.001), gambling (p=0.018) and antisocial personality disorder (p=0.015). FAOD+ participants had more severe clinical, adverse consequences. FAOD+ significantly predicted episodes of lifetime MA use (R2 =0.004, p=0.032), the largest number of drinks ever had in a 24-hour period (R2 =0.01, p=0.001), paranoid experiences ([OR]=1.090, p=0.004), alcohol dependence ([OR]=1.112, p=0.001) and antisocial personality disorder ([OR]=1.139, p=0.015). FAOD+ participants who were exposed to alcohol only were more likely to report a significantly higher number of drinks ever had in a 24-hour periods (p<0.005). Similarly, FAOD+ participants who were exposed to MA use only were significantly more likely to report more frequent use of MA (p<0.005). Conclusions: FAOD+ participants were characterized by a generally more severe clinical presentation than FAOD- participants. Moreover, we show the specificity of drug type mattered, with family exposure of alcohol and MA associated with greater subsequent use of the respective drugs.

The Differentiation of Narrative Styles in Individuals with High Psychopathic Deviate

The current study was designed to show the differentiation of narrative styles in individuals with high scores in Psychopathic deviate (Pd) scale and develop a method enabling identification of psychopathic personality traits based on linguistic indicators. 600 spontaneous narrations related to emotional topics have been examined for grammar, syntactic, and lexical indicators. The indicators have been selected based on a review related to language of psychopaths. The narrations were written by 200 persons who were also tested for psychopathic deviate and intelligence level, including prisoners diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Independent judges identified the linguistic indicators which were then counted for each person with the use of computer software. The configuration profiles of the linguistic indicators/narrative styles were established using k-mean clustering method. Then, ANOVA was performed to show which clusters differentiate the levels of psychopathic deviate. The findings show there are two configurations of language features (important: single features were not examined) associated with high levels of psychopathic deviate patterns. Two narrative styles were identified, labelled demonstrative-digressive-egocentric-emotional-dogmatic and reserved-focused on the topic-repetitive, which indicate high psychopathic deviate traits. The ROC curves were applied to establish the prediction of the narrative styles for high psychopathic deviate scores.

ECODI-27 Dissocial Behavior Scale in Peruvian Adolescents: A Psychometric Analysis

Dissocial behaviors precede antisocial personality disorder, which can generate great difficulties for every society, which is why it is important to establish identification mechanisms for this phenomenon to propose prevention mechanisms in educational settings. This study sought to explore the psychometric benefits of the Disocial Behavior Scale in Peruvian adolescents of secondary education, working with a sample of 1000 students aged 15 to 18 years old. A new model of 23 items is proposed with a distribution of three factors, which shows adequate adjustment indices obtained through the confirmatory factor analysis χ2 / gl = 3.36, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.93, SRMR = 0.04, RMSEA = 0.05 [95% CI 0.04-0.05], AIC = 69248. The reliability values for the three proposed factors are optimal, Factor 1 (ω =.884), Factor 2 (ω =.845), Factor 3 (ω =.787). It is concluded that the Dissocial Behavior Scale in the proposed version of 23 items with three factors presents adequate psychometric indices.

Particularities of Offenders Imprisoned for Domestic Violence from Social and Psychiatric Medical–Legal Perspectives

Background and Objectives: It is known that there may be an interconditionality between social status, personality disorders, and aggressive behavior. This study aimed to analyze the social and psychiatric diagnosis characteristics in subjects imprisoned for domestic violence acts compared to other types of aggressive behaviors. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective study using psychiatric medical–legal reports at the National Institute of Legal Medicine “Mina Minovici” Bucharest from 2016 to 2020. Results: We included 234 cases in our analysis, from which 132 (56%) were domestic violence offenders (DVO), and 102 (44%) were violence offenders imprisoned for other aggressions (OVO). Overall, DVOs were older than OVOs (43.0 +/− 14.7 vs. 36.1 +/− 16.6 years-old). In both study groups, most subjects were men, but the DVO group had more women than the OVO group: 23 cases (17%) and 3 cases (3%), respectively. In 14 cases (11%), previous criminal records were found from the DVO and 31 (30%) from the OVO group. Significantly fewer DVO were chronic psychoactive substance users: 83 (63%) in the DVO group versus 78 (86%) in the OVO group. Significantly more DVO had suicidal tendencies 26 (20%) compared to OVO 9 (9%). DVO subjects had significantly less often unsocialized conduct disorder or antisocial personality disorder compared to the OVO group. Conclusions: We found that DVO, compared to the OVO, were more numerous, older, less abusive, with a less frequent history of psychoactive substance abuse and addictions, and were less frequently indifferent to the committed acts.