Drug Addiction, Conduct Disorder, and Psychopathy in Inmates

Abstract

The study investigated substance addiction, conduct disorder, and psychopathy in 200 male inmates from the District Jail, Lahore. One hundred male addicts and 100 non-addicts were recruited purposively, who ranged in age from 20 to 65 (M addicts = 34.85, SD = 11.97, M non-addicts = 37.05, SD = 8.79) years. Semi-structured interviews were carried out by one of the authors to assess psychopathy (Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, PCL-R) and conduct disorder (Conduct Disorder Checklist, CDC). A 2(Addiction) X 2(Conduct Disorder) between-subject design was used with psychopathy as the dependent variable. A 2(Addiction) X 2(Conduct Disorder) between-subject ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of addiction group; incarcerated addicts were significantly more psychopathic than non-addicts. The study did not reveal any main effect of conduct disorder or the interaction. These results are discussed in the light of helping jail administrators and scholars who can design instruments and enforce effective interventions for mentally ill inmates.