青少年人格障碍增加犯罪风险

纽约，纽约——2000年9月21日——哥伦比亚——长老会研究人员发现，青少年的人格障碍可能会增加青少年和青年时期犯罪和暴力行为的风险。在一项长期研究中，哥伦比亚大学(Columbia University)和纽约州精神病学研究所(New York State Psychiatric Institute)、西奈山医学中心(Mount Sinai Medical Center)的杰弗里·约翰逊(Jeffrey Johnson)博士及其同事对纽约州北部至成年早期青少年的代表性样本进行了跟踪。在十多年的时间里，我们采访了717个普通家庭。青少年和母亲都被定期询问以评估人格障碍和暴力或犯罪行为。研究发现，患有自恋、偏执或消极攻击型人格障碍的年轻人发动肢体冲突、威胁、伤害、抢劫或袭击他人以及纵火、盗窃和强行闯入的可能性是正常人群的四倍。人格障碍与犯罪行为的关系与酒精和药物滥用无关。即使研究人员控制了青少年的年龄和性别、同时出现的精神障碍、以及他们父母的社会经济地位和心理健康状况，这种行为的风险仍显著升高。这项发表在2000年9月的《美国精神病学杂志》上的研究表明，对有人格障碍的青少年进行早期干预和治疗可能会减少青少年和年轻人的犯罪。尽管人们早就知道患有反社会人格障碍的成年人有实施暴力或犯罪行为的倾向，但之前没有研究调查患有人格障碍的青少年群体中的犯罪风险。研究人员表示，他们的发现表明，应该加大对青少年自恋、偏执和消极攻击人格障碍的识别和治疗力度。 “There has been a lot of research suggesting that all three of these personality disorders can be effectively treated with psychotherapy, says Dr. Johnson, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University college of Physicians & Surgeons. “Treatment promoting improved social relationships and greater empathy may help many youths to avoid violent behavior.” Because effective treatments are available for many personality disorders, identifying such disorders in youths may be help reduce criminal behavior among teens and young adults. “It may be important to assess psychiatric disorders among youths who are entering the juvenile justice system for the first time,” Dr. Johnson suggested. Unfortunately, in many jurisdictions, youths entering the system are not routinely assessed or referred for therapy. “That’s an opportunity to intervene and, by identifying and treating these personality disorders at an early age, it may be possible to prevent many crimes from occuring. Because the social costs of crime are incalculable, it may be very worthwhile for society to invest in screening and therapy for these youths.” The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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