The influence of the type of substance use, gender and psychiatric comorbidity on recidivism risk

• Published in: Tijdschrift voor psychiatrie Vol. 65; no. 6; p. 362
• Main Authors: van Harskamp, M, DeFuentes-Merillas, L, van Gestel-Timmermans, J, Knapen, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Dutch
• Published: Netherlands 2023
• Subjects: Anxiety - epidemiology; Behavior, Addictive; Comorbidity; Female; Humans; Male; Recidivism; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0303-7339

According to the Risk-Needs-Responsivity Model (RNR-Model), substance use is one of the strongest predictors of recidivism. There is often comorbidity of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, but the effect of these symptoms on recidivism is still unclear. To investigate whether different types of substance use predict recidivism risk and whether symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, and gender moderated this relation, within the forensic outpatient addiction care. We used the Forensische Ambulante Risico Evaluatie (FARE; a risk assessment tool) and the Measurements in the Addictions for Triage and Evaluation (MATE; an assessment instrument for measuring type of substance use and internalizing symptoms, a.o.). Participants were 396 clients, both male and female, receiving outpatient forensic addiction treatment. The outcome was recidivism risk, with substance use and gender as predictive factors, and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress as moderating factors. The type of substance use contributed significantly to a higher recidivism risk. Specifically cocaine and opiates/sedatives contributed to a higher recidivism risk than alcohol and other substances. Men had a higher recidivism risk than women. Symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress did not significantly contribute to a difference in recidivism risk between alcohol users and users of other substances. Future research should focus on including offenders with and without substance use problems. In this way, it can be determined more clearly which factors influence the recidivism risk and therefore are important for forensic treatment. In addition, more research is necessary to investigate the moderating role of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress on the relationship between different kinds of substance use and recidivism (risk), and the role of different kinds of substance use and gender on recidivism (risk), to adjust forensic treatment to clients' treatable risk factors.