| Summary: | Abstract Violent behaviour is known to associate with several different psychiatric disorders, and psychiatric disorders are also common consequences of exposure to violence. However, the role of psychiatric disorders in predicting later violent victimization has not been as widely studied. This study aims to investigate the predictive role of various adolescence-related clinical and socio-demographical factors for severe hospital-treated assault exposures among a population of former adolescent psychiatric inpatients, using a combination of data from clinical examination at adolescence together with comprehensive register-based follow-up data. The study participants were 508 adolescents aged between 13–17 years, treated in an acute closed ward of Unit 70 at Oulu University Hospital between 2001 and 2006. During their hospitalization, the adolescents were interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children Present and Lifetime, to assess DSM-IV–based psychiatric diagnoses, and to obtain information on family-related characteristics. Follow-up information on the treatment episodes for assault exposure were extracted from the national Care Register for Health Care, and the data on crimes committed from the criminal records of the Finnish Legal Register Centre. 14% of the participants had received hospital treatment for assault injury up to young adulthood. In males, anxiety disorder and non-suicidal self-injury at adolescence were identified as predictors for later assault exposure, whereas in females, being a bully or bully-victim, living in child welfare placement, and being diagnosed with personality disorder in early adulthood predicted assault exposure. Overall, a tendency to lose temper in childhood, as well as committing crimes, increased the likelihood of assault exposure. The findings of this study can be utilized in detecting vulnerable adolescents in clinical practice, and in designing relevant primary prevention interventions for these adolescents at home, ...
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