Antisocial Personality Disorder as a Risk Factor for Opioid Use: The Dual Mediating Roles of Antisocial Attitudes and Self-Control

Antisocial personality disorder is a risk factor for opioid use. There is a dearth of research which examines self-control and moral disengagement as potential mediators of this relationship. This study utilized data from the Pathways to Desistance study in analyses. Generalized structural equation modeling was utilized to test for mediation of the relationship between antisocial personality disorder and opioid use. Bootstrapped standard errors were computed so that a Clogg Z test could be estimated to determine if identified mediation effects significantly differed. Results indicated that a likely diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder increased risk for opioid use. Inclusion of moral disengagement and self-control into the model resulted in attenuation of this effect to non-significance and reduced the magnitude of the effect by around 45%. The contribution of both constructs to the total indirect effect did not significantly differ and only the total indirect effect was significant.