Arrest among psychotic inpatients: assessing the relationship to diagnosis, gender, number of admissions, and social class

The present study of psychotic patients investigates the relationship of specific psychotic diagnoses (i.e., psychoactive-substance-induced psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, other DSM-III Axis I psychotic disorders), social class, gender, and number of admissions to the rate of arrest in the community. All admissions with psychotic symptoms to hospitals providing inpatient psychiatric services in the Baltimore area were surveyed during a 6-year period. Study participants were assessed using a modified version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. During the course of the interview, patients were asked whether they had ever been arrested as a juvenile or as an adult. After adjusting for age, gender, number of admissions, and social class, we found that patients admitted for psychoactive-substance-induced psychosis were more likely to report having been arrested than patients with other psychotic diagnoses. Patients with schizophrenia were not more likely to have an history of arrest than patients with other psychotic disorders. Number of admissions and social class were independent predictors of history of arrest. The relationship between psychotic diagnosis and history of arrest was modified by gender. Psychotic patients with substance-induced diagnosis who were male were more likely to report a prior arrest in the community than their female counterparts. Our results suggest that type of psychotic diagnosis and social class, in addition to gender and number of admissions, are important predictors of differences in arrest-rate histories among psychotic patients. Gender appears to be an effect modifier of the relationship between psychotic diagnosis and history of arrest.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Section Socio-environmental Studies, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA, , , , , , US

   C. Muntaner

2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, , , , , , TP

   P. Wolyniec, J. McGrath & A. E. Pulver

Accepted: 12 December 1997

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