The Importance of Familial Liability for Substance Abuse and Criminality in Young Male Violent Offenders

Abstract

Background: There is an interest to find out more about family background of violent offenders and how it affects the development of their problems. Aims: To investigate the association between familial liability, substance abuse disorders (SUDs) and aggressive antisocial behaviour in young violent offenders. Method: Pedigree of first, second and third degree relationship were used to measure familial liability of young, male violent offenders (n = 221) in prison. Clusters were formed based on familial liability to examine differences in amount of SUDs and antisocial aggressive behaviour. Results: Violent offenders could be differentiated into three clusters by familial liability. Familial liability had an effect on age of debut on violent crime and SUDs, life-time rates on aggression and severity of substance abuse. Conclusions: Having familial liability gives earlier age of onset and a more severe outcome regarding both aggressive antisocial behaviour and substance abuse. Some differences can also be seen between different types of familial liability.