Citation

Luukkainen S, Riala K, Laukkanen M, Hakko H, Rasanen P. Psychiatry Res. 2012; 200(2-3): 767-772.

Affiliation

University of Oulu, Department of Psychiatry, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014 University of Oulu, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.018

PMID

22560660

Abstract

The association of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) with criminality, substance-related disorders and conduct disorders has mainly been studied in adult populations. In our study we examine the association in an adolescent population. We used a population-based clinical sample of 508 psychiatric inpatient adolescents from Northern Finland. The prevalences of TBI and criminality were 26 (5.1%) and 85 (16.7%), respectively. The information on TBI was acquired from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register and on criminality from the Legal Register Center. DSM-IV diagnoses were obtained by interviewing the subjects using the semi-structured Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, Present and Lifetime (K-SADS-PL). Adolescents with TBI had significantly more often committed crimes compared to adolescents without TBI (53.8% vs. 14.7%, respectively). Prevalences of both violent crimes (42.9% vs. 9.1%) and non-violent crimes (29.4% vs. 6.8%) were also higher in the TBI group. TBI during childhood and adolescence increased the risk of any criminality 6.8-fold (95% 3.0-15.2), conduct disorder 5.7-fold (95% 2.1-15.4) and concomitant criminality and conduct disorder 18.7-fold (95% 4.3-80.1). Our results suggest that clinicians working with mentally ill adolescents who have experienced head injuries should be aware of the increased risk for delinquency and violent tendencies occurring later in the adolescents' lives.

Language: en