Comorbid antisocial and substance misuse proclivity and mental health service utilization by female inmates: testing the worst of both worlds hypothesis with the PAI.

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to establish whether female inmates with comorbid proclivity for antisocial behavior and substance misuse, as measured by the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 2007), use more mental health-related services than female inmates with either antisocial or substance misuse proclivity alone. A second purpose was to determine whether the effect of comorbid antisocial and substance misuse proclivity on mental health service utilization is cumulative or interactive. In a survey of 421 female federal prison inmates, it was noted that proclivity for both antisocial behavior and substance misuse was associated with significantly greater subsequent use of mental health services in female inmates than either proclivity alone, even after preexisting mental health diagnoses and treatment were controlled. In addition, the effect was additive rather than interactive. These findings provide further support for the "worst of both worlds" hypothesis, which holds that comorbid antisocial and substance involvement/proclivity portend poorer future outcomes than either antisocial or substance involvement/proclivity alone. The implications of these results for development of a comprehensive training model that provides mental health professionals with the skills to properly screen and effectively treat female inmates are discussed, along with the need to clarify the theory behind the "worst of both worlds" hypothesis.