Giving credence to a belief already held by many psychologists, a recent study conducted by Duke researchers has shown that childhood psychiatric disorders can lead to crime later in life.
The study, conducted by William Copeland, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, found that a large proportion of young adults-as many as half of male participants and 40 percent of female participants-arrested before age 21 had been diagnosed with a prior disorder. By contrast, only 25 percent of those without an arrest had had childhood disorders.
The researchers compared the risks associated with different types of psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety disorders, childhood depression and conduct disorders like habitual lying or cheating, Copeland said. Substance abuse problems were also considered.
"The kids who get into trouble with the law in adulthood are the kids who have these conduct disorders," he said.
Additionally, the study, which appeared in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry, categorized the arrests by magnitude of crime, ranging from minor crimes like shoplifting to severe or violent crimes. Although substance-use disorders alone accounted for many minor crimes, violent offenders often had more complex backgrounds.
"They not only had [conduct] disorders, but tended to have multiple psychiatric disorders," Copeland said.
He cited childhood anxiety or depression as disorders that combined with behavioral problems to increase the risk of severe crime. He said the children who had been diagnosed earliest often had the strongest forms of a disorder.
Copeland's findings are part of the Great Smoky Mountains Study, which included 1,420 children from 11 counties in rural North Carolina.
"[The study] was designed to follow a representative sample of children. through adolescence and into adulthood, looking at risk and protective factors for psychiatric and substance-use disorders and access to needed care," Jane Costello, professor of medical psychology in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, wrote in an e-mail.
Costello designed and initiated the Great Smoky Mountains Study in 1993 and is one of the authors of Copeland's report.
The children were interviewed annually to assess possible disorders, beginning at age nine, 11 or 13 and concluding at age 16. The researchers returned when participants were 21 years old to trace criminal charges in the intervening years, when criminality peaks in young adults, Copeland said. About one in three participants had at least one arrest on their record.
The link between childhood disorders and later crime could be used to prevent criminality at an early age, potentially saving the money spent on incarceration, the researchers said.
"Being able to identify them in childhood is very attractive," Copeland said. "We have effective treatments for these disorders, and we can administer them in a cost-effective manner."
Costello said efforts to prevent crime through psychiatric treatment should be expanded from behavioral disorders to include depression and anxiety as well.
They noted, however, that the study's findings should not be taken as conclusive because the racial makeup of the participants reflects that of rural western North Carolina, where black, Latino and Asian-American children are underrepresented relative to the general population.
Many similar studies are already in place in urban areas, Copeland said, adding that corroborating the findings of the Great Smoky Mountains Study could be only a matter of analyzing the existing data.
"We know a whole lot more about what goes on in urban areas than in these rural areas," he said.
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