Practice Question
A nurse is caring for a young adult client who is being evaluated for antisocial personality disorder.
Answer Choices:
Correct Answer:
Comorbidities in childhood
Rationale:
Comorbidities in childhood:
✔️The client’s prior diagnoses of ADHD at age 6 and conduct disorder (CD) at age 9 are strong predictors of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) in adulthood.
✔️Early-onset behavioral disorders involving impulsivity, aggression, and defiance often evolve into chronic patterns of rule-breaking and disregard for social norms.
✔️These early comorbidities reflect neurobehavioral dysregulation and poor impulse control, foundational traits in ASPD.
✔️Identifying such patterns early is essential for preventive behavioral interventions and long-term management.
Treatment of animals:
✔️A history of animal cruelty is one of the cardinal diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder.
✔️It demonstrates a callous disregard for the suffering of others and an absence of empathy—core features that later manifest as interpersonal exploitation and aggression in antisocial personality disorder.
✔️This behavior signifies an early moral and emotional detachment, which escalates if untreated.
✔️ The client’s documented animal cruelty provides a clear developmental link between CD and ASPD.
School history:
✔️ Being expelled for possession of a weapon on school grounds indicates serious rule violations and disregard for authority, consistent with conduct disorder diagnostic features.
✔️Such behavior often includes aggression toward peers, truancy, and property destruction, all of which foreshadow the criminality, impulsivity, and hostility typical of ASPD.
✔️Early disciplinary action for violent conduct is a reliable red flag for later antisocial development.
Parental history:
✔️A family history of bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, and substance use disorder increases genetic and environmental vulnerability to behavioral dysregulation and antisocial traits.
✔️Parental neglect and unstable caregiving contribute to insecure attachment, poor emotional regulation, and learned maladaptive coping behaviors.
✔️This background fosters the developmental trajectory from conduct disorder in youth to antisocial personality disorder in adulthood, as seen in this client’s case.
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This question is from Custom NUR212 Final Assessment Fall 1 2025 which contains 50 questions.
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Question Details
- Category: RN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: ATI Exam(s)
- Domain: RN ATI MedSurg
- Answer Choices: 10