Antisocial personality disorder (
ASPD) is highly associated with
substance use disorders (SUD). In addition to the full
ASPD syndrome, which requires both childhood
conduct disorder and the adult features, other antisocial behavioral syndromes, including
conduct disorder (CD) alone without the
adult syndrome, and the adult antisocial behavioral syndrome without childhood CD (AABS) are also frequently diagnosed in patients with SUD. The aim of this study was to compare the rates of these various
ASPD syndromes between
cocaine- and cannabis-dependent individuals seeking treatment. A structured interview for
ASPD excluding symptoms that occurred solely in the context of
substance use was conducted in 241 outpatients (
cocaine dependence, n = 111;
cannabis dependence, n = 130). Overall, the proportion of substance-dependent individuals in this study with AABS was significantly larger than the proportion with
ASPD (30.9% vs. 17.3%). A diagnosis of CD-only, where CD did not progress to
ASPD, was uncommon. No significant differences in the prevalence of antisocial behavioral syndrome diagnoses were found between
cocaine- and cannabis-dependent patients. Antisocial behavioral syndrome diagnosis did not influence treatment retention. Antisocial behavioral syndromes are commonly diagnosed in patients with SUD and future research should evaluate prognostic implications of AABS compared to
ASPD in a variety of clinical treatment settings.