Historical data in the evaluation of violent subjects. A hypothesis generating study

Data obtained on a group of emergency room patients with a presenting complaint of violence (No. = 40) are compared with data on a matched control group of relatives (No. = 40) of other emergency room patients. The comparison is made on selected neurological and sociopsychiatric variables. The results show that: severe head injury before the age of 10 is not associated with violent adult behavior; that there is no difference discernible as to many neurotic childhood traits; that the violent subjects acknowledge a greater number of suicidal thoughts than do the controls; and that no difference in violent criminal history exists between the groups. Based on these results, specific hypotheses for further analytical studies are suggested.