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Police-registered offenses and psychiatric disorders among young males

The Finnish “From a boy to a man” birth cohort study

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To study associations between crime and psychiatric disorders among adolescent males in a representative population-based cohort study.

Method

The sample includes 2,712 Finnish boys born in 1981. Information on criminality consists of offenses registered in the Finnish National Police Register 1998–2001. Crime was classified according to frequency and type (drug, violent, property, traffic, and drunk driving offenses). Information on psychiatric diagnoses between 1999 and 2004 was collected from the Finnish National Military Register.

Results

Of the 2,712 boys, 22% had a crime registration during the 4-year period, and 10% had at least one psychiatric disorder according to the Military Register. Those with psychiatric disorders accounted for 49% of all crimes. Of those with more than five crimes (n = 98), 59% had psychiatric diagnoses. After adjusting for other crime types and childhood socio-economic status, property crime was independently associated with several diagnoses: antisocial personality (APD), substance use (SUD), psychotic, anxiety, and adjustment disorders. Drug offending was independently associated with APD, SUD, and psychotic disorder, and traffic offenses with APD.

Conclusions

Youth crime is predominantly associated with antisocial personality and substance use disorders. Crime prevention efforts should focus on boys showing a risk for antisocial and substance use problems. In particular, property, drug, and repeat offenders need mental health and substance use assessment. There is a need to develop integrated mental health and substance use treatment services for young offenders within or alongside the criminal justice system.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by The Finnish Pediatric Research Foundation, Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, Sigrid Juselius Foundation, Alcohol Research Foundation, and Turku University Hospital (EVO-grants). The authors thank Ph.D. Jaana Haapasalo for commenting a draft of this report, M.A. Jacqueline Välimäki for revision of the language, and M.Sc. Lauri Sillanmäki for statistical help.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Henrik Elonheimo & Ari-Matti Nuutila

  2. Dept. of Child Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, 20014, Finland

    Solja Niemelä & Andre Sourander

  3. Archipelago Sea Naval Command, Turku, Finland

    Kai Parkkola

  4. Dept. of Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Petteri Multimäki

  5. Dept. of Biostatistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Hans Helenius

  6. RBUP, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway

    Andre Sourander

  7. Visiting Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Andre Sourander

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  1. Henrik Elonheimo
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  2. Solja Niemelä
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  4. Petteri Multimäki
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Correspondence to Solja Niemelä.

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Elonheimo, H., Niemelä, S., Parkkola, K. et al. Police-registered offenses and psychiatric disorders among young males. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 42, 477–484 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0192-1

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