PREDICTION OF 7 MONTHS METHADONE-MAINTENANCE TREATMENT RESPONSE BY 4 MEASURES OF ANTISOCIALITY

Zero-order correlational and simultaneous regression analyses were per formed to ascertain the comparative validity of four measures of antis ociality for predicting the initial 7 months treatment response of 193 male methadone maintenance (MM) patients. Predictor variables were th e number of childhood conduct disorder (CD) behaviors, number of adult antisocial personality disorder (A-APD) behaviors, the revised Psycho pathy Checklist (PCL-R) score and the revised California Psychological Inventory-Socialization (CPI-So) scale score. The outcome measures we re completion/noncompletion of 7 months of treatment, percent positive during-treatment of cocaine, opiate and benzodiazepine urine toxicolo gies, and change from baseline to 7 months follow-up in seven Addictio n severity index (ASI) composite scores (CSs). All four measures of an tisociality were significantly correlated with treatment noncompletion , although only the PCL-R score was significant in the predictor model . The PCL-R predicted more positive cocaine urines. At the individual level, both PCL-R and CPI-So were associated with more positive benzod iazepine urines, but neither contributed a significant amount of varia nce when both were entered in the model. None of the predictors were s ignificantly associated with self reported improvement in the CSs. The PCL-R and CPI-So were more successful in predicting outcomes than the two behavior-based measures. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. A ll rights reserved.