Preadolescent Children of Substance‐Dependent Fathers with Antisocial Personality Disorder: Psychiatric Disorders and Problem Behaviors

Abstract

We compared psychiatric disorders and problem behavior scores in pre‐adolescent children of fathers with alcohol or other drug dependence and ASP (SD+/ASP+), children whose fathers had substance dependence without ASP (SD+/ASP‐), and children whose fathers were without either disorder (SD—/ASP‐). SD+/ASP+ children showed elevated rates of major depression, conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and separation anxiety disorder when compared to SD+/ASP—and SD—/ASP—children. SD+/ASP+ children had higher internalizing and externalizing problem behavior scores than the other two groups of children. The results suggest that SD+/ASP+ children are at significant risk for internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.