Antisocial personality and substance abuse disorders.

The relationship between antisocial personality (ASP) disorder and drug and alcohol disorders was examined using data from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) gathered on a sample of 1,149 male prison inmates. The results of a linear canonical discriminant function analysis indicate differences among those with a DIS/ASP diagnosis that are related to the presence or absence of an accompanying substance abuse diagnosis: whites are more likely than nonwhites to receive the ASP diagnosis with a substance abuse diagnosis, and substance abuse appears to magnify ASP symptomatology. Diagnostic and clinical implications of findings are discussed.