Antisocial teens 5 times more likely to die young: Study

Adolescents with conduct disorder and substance use problems are five times more likely to die prematurely than their peers, with roughly one in 20 dying by their 30s, according to a study.

The research, published in the journal Addiction, suggests that while drug and alcohol use among adolescents draws more attention, antisocial behaviour - including rule-breaking tendencies - may be a more powerful predictor of early mortality.

"This research makes it clear that youth identified with conduct problems are at extreme risk for premature mortality, beyond that which can be explained by substance use problems, and in critical need of greater resources," said Richard Border, a graduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US.

 

Researchers looked at death rates among 1,463 adolescents who had been arrested or referred to counselling for substance use problems or "conduct disorder."

It is a mental health disorder characterised by rule-breaking, aggression towards others, property destruction and deceitfulness.

The researchers also followed 1,399 of their siblings and a control group of 904 adolescents of similar age and demographic background.

With an average follow-up age of 32.7 years, the researchers found that 62 of the original study subjects - more than four per cent - had died, compared to less than one per cent of controls.

Siblings of the study subjects also had higher mortality rates, with about 2.4 per cent dying.

Substance-related deaths were the most common, along with traffic related deaths, suicides and deaths resulting from assaults.

"To see detailed, hard data from a cohort of adolescents we have been interviewing face-to-face over the years really makes tangible the dangers that these youth are facing as they go into adulthood," said John Hewitt, director at Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG).

"It's a strikingly poor outcome and should be a major public health concern," Hewitt said.

When the researchers further analysed the data, they were surprised to discover that while both conduct disorder and substance use severity were associated with increased mortality risk, conduct disorder was a more powerful independent risk factor.

"We pay a lot of attention to substance use and it is definitely important, but we don't put as much attention on rule breaking. Perhaps we should," said Hewitt.