Disruptive, delinquent and aggressive behavior in female adolescents with a psychoactive substance use disorder: relation to executive cognitive functioning.
OBJECTIVE
This study had four objectives: (1) to determine whether female adolescents with a psychoactive substance use disorder are more impaired than controls on a battery of neuropsychological tests of Executive Cognitive Functioning (ECF); (2) to determine whether these individuals exhibit higher levels of disruptive, delinquent and aggressive behavior compared with controls; (3) to determine whether ECF is related to disruptive, delinquent and aggressive behavior in this population; and (4) to determine whether these relations are moderated by drug use.


METHODS
Multiple indicators of ECF, and disruptive, delinquent and aggressive behavior, as well as drug use, were used to test these relations in a sample of 188 female adolescents who qualified for a DSM-III-R diagnosis of a psychoactive substance use disorder (PSUD) and 95 normal controls between the ages of 14-18 years (N = 283).


RESULTS
Hierarchical multiple regression equations determined that ECF was related to disruptive, delinquent and aggressive behavior even when chronological age, SES and drug use were accounted for. The final regression models suggested that drug use was more strongly related to disruptive and delinquent behavior, whereas ECF was more strongly related to aggression. Drug use did not moderate any relation between ECF and the dependent measures.


CONCLUSIONS
One implication of these results is that violence prevention and treatment outcomes may be ameliorated by incorporating cognitive habilitation of ECF as an integral component of multimodel interventions.
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania 15213-2593, USA.
P R
PR
Giancola
A C
AC
Mezzich
R E
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Tarter
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014836:Volition / Q000502:physiology