Criminal Victimization and Comorbid Substance Use and Psychiatric Disorders in the United States: Results from the NESARC
Received 4 June 2009; accepted 25 November 2009. published online 25 January 2010.
Purpose
Criminal victimization produces enormous personal and societal costs, yet few investigations have systematically examined substance use and psychiatric disorders of crime victims. Our objectives were to (i) examine the prevalence and patterns of criminal victimization in the United States and (ii) their associations with specific substance use disorders, prevalent psychiatric conditions, and violent and nonviolent antisocial behaviors in controlled multivariate analyses.
Methods
Data were derived from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a nationally representative sample of US residents 18 years of age and older (N=43,093). Interviews conducted between 2001 and 2002 included measures of past-year criminal victimization and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, IV mood, anxiety, substance use, and personality disorders.
Results
More than 1-in-25 adults in the United States (4.1%) reported past-year criminal victimization. Respondents who reported lower levels of income, lived in urban areas, and were separated or divorced were at significantly heightened risk for criminal victimization. Persons reporting various forms of violent and nonviolent antisocial behavior also were more likely to be victims of crime. In controlled multivariate analyses, crime victims evidenced significantly increased rates of alcohol, cocaine, and opioid use disorders. Paranoid personality disorder, major depressive disorder, and a family history of antisocial behavior were also significantly associated with past-year criminal victimization.
Conclusions
Criminal victimization is prevalent in the United States and associated with significant psychiatric comorbidities and behavioral dysfunction. Poor, unmarried persons living in urban areas who have family histories of antisocial conduct and personal histories of specific substance use and psychiatric disorders are at substantially elevated risk for criminal victimization.
aSchool of Social Work and Department of Community Health, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
bDepartment of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO
cCriminology and Criminal Justice Studies, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
dCollege of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
eSchool of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
fSchool of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Address correspondence to: Michael G. Vaughn, Tegeler Hall, 3550 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103. Tel.: 314-977-2718; Fax: 314-977-2731.
NESARC was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism with additional support provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The authors are grateful for support from NIH grants: DA021405 (Dr. Howard) and K07CA104119 (Dr. Fu).
ABSTRACT