Browsing by Author "Westerlund, Inka"

Objectives: The association between psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and antisocial behavior in adolescence has only been studied in very few studies, however, preliminary evidence suggests an association. Reliability of surveys used to detect symptoms has been poor and no widely accepted survey for identifying the symptoms exists. The aim of this study was to examine whether psychotic-like experiences increase the risk for antisocial behavior in adolescence, and whether this association remains after controlling for the effect of low self-control, gender, and psychosocial challenges. In addition, we examined the internal consistency of the four questions measuring symptoms. Methods: Data for this study was collected from the 2020 Youth Delinquency Survey, which sampled 15-16-year-old Finnish individuals from the general population (n=5534), with 49.7% female participants. Participants' psychosocial well-being was assessed using the SDQ symptom questionnaire which originally also included four items about PLEs. Items measuring PLEs were analyzed separately in this study. The Self-control and antisocial behavior were measured by separate self-report measures. A sum variable was constructed from all the variables. The association was analyzed with logistic regression and the internal consistency of the items was measured by Cronbach alpha. Results and Conclusions: This study showed an association between PLEs, and antisocial behavior and the association remained significant after controlling for psychosocial challenges, gender, and low self-control. Carrying a weapon was the strongest predictor, but there were also statistically significant associations with animal cruelty, theft by threat, assault, and fighting. In addition, the four items measuring PLEs showed good internal consistency (α =.83). Removing any the items decreased it. The result of this study suggests that psychotic-like experiences can be an independent risk factor for antisocial behavior in adolescence.