# Antisocial behaviour
**Antisocial behavior** is behavior in which the basic rights of others, or major age-appropriate societal norms, rules, or laws, are violated. In the Eleventh Revision of the [International Classification of Diseases](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-classification-of-diseases) (ICD-11), published by the World Health Organization, it is classified as code MB23.1, a symptom or sign category rather than a mental disorder diagnosis[1](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/). The same term is used outside medicine, particularly in policing and community policy, for low-level public misconduct that falls short of crime[2](https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rip/rip5).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| ICD-11 code | MB23.1, within the grouping MB23 "Symptoms or signs involving appearance or behaviour"[1](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/) • [3](https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41519/1/WHO_Clinical_descriptions_and_diagnostic_requirements_ICD-11.pdf) |
| Definition | Behaviour in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms, rules, or laws are violated[1](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/) |
| Also indexed as | Child or adolescent antisocial behavior[1](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/) |
| Neighbouring category | MB23.0 aggressive behavior covers actions intended to threaten or hurt another person or damage property; antisocial behavior is defined by violation of rights and norms instead[3](https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41519/1/WHO_Clinical_descriptions_and_diagnostic_requirements_ICD-11.pdf) |
| Personality dimension | In the ICD-11 dimensional model of personality disorder, antisociality corresponds to a combination of the trait domains dissociality, disinhibition, and low negative affectivity[4](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01) |
| Predecessor category | ICD-10 used "dissocial personality disorder", diagnosed on at least three of six features, with the suggestion that a person be 17 years or older before it is considered[5](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg77/evidence/full-guideline-pdf-242104429) |
| Policy usage | One million anti-social behavior cases were recorded in England and Wales in 2025[6](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.19492) |
## Place in the ICD-11
MB23.1 belongs to a grouping of behavioral signs observed in clinical encounters rather than to a chapter of disorders. Its siblings include aggressive behavior (actions intended to threaten or hurt another person or to damage property, which may be physical, verbal, or symbolic), avoidance behavior, compulsions, [bradyphrenia](https://www.edgepedia.org/bradyphrenia) (slowness of thought), and coprolalia (involuntary obscene utterances)[3](https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41519/1/WHO_Clinical_descriptions_and_diagnostic_requirements_ICD-11.pdf). The distinction between the first two is definitional: aggressive behavior is characterized by intent toward a person or property, while antisocial behavior is characterized by the violation of rights, norms, rules, or laws, whatever form the conduct takes[3](https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41519/1/WHO_Clinical_descriptions_and_diagnostic_requirements_ICD-11.pdf). The index entry "Child or adolescent antisocial behaviour" points to the same code, reflecting that the definition is scaled to norms appropriate to the person's age[1](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/). A Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare translation of the 2023 ICD-11 release renders the category as 反社会的行動[7](https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10701000/001278085.pdf).
Because MB23.1 records a sign, it can be coded alongside whatever condition explains it. This separates it from the diagnoses in which antisocial conduct is a defining feature, which the ICD-11 places in the chapters on disruptive behavior and dissocial disorders and on personality disorders[8](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6313247/) • [4](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01).
## Related diagnoses
**Conduct disorder.** [Conduct disorder](https://www.edgepedia.org/conduct-disorder), a widespread psychiatric condition with serious impairments, typically first appears during childhood or the teenage years and involves markedly antisocial, aggressive conduct; among children and adolescents it describes such severe and persistent behavior, it often appears alongside attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and in adulthood it frequently develops into antisocial personality disorder.[9](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41572-019-0095-y) ICD-11 consolidated the three separate ICD-10 conduct disorder diagnoses (confined to the family context, unsocialized, and socialized) into one category, and allows two qualifiers: a distinction between childhood and adolescent onset, based on evidence that earlier onset is associated with more severe pathology and a poorer course, and a qualifier for limited prosocial emotions[8](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6313247/). In the context of conduct-dissocial disorder, that limited-prosocial-emotions qualifier is associated with a tendency toward a more severe, aggressive, and stable pattern of antisocial behavior[8](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6313247/). The same specifier exists in DSM-5 and covers many traits associated with psychopathy[10](https://www.psykiatriantutkimussaatio.fi/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Psychiatria_Fennica%E2%94%ACa2024_Heikkila%E2%95%A0e_et_al.pdf).
**Adult personality classification.** ICD-9 and ICD-10 carried categorical definitions for antisocial behavior patterns; ICD-11 replaced them with a dimensional model of personality disorder based on severity and five trait domains[4](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01). Under this model the ICD-11 does not use the term "antisocial personality disorder" at all[11](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41983-023-00717-4). A proposed crosswalk from ICD-10 dissocial personality disorder describes its counterpart as a combination of dissociality, disinhibition, and low [negative affectivity](https://www.edgepedia.org/negative-affectivity), where disinhibition involves impulsive, reckless, and irresponsible behavior and low negative affectivity involves an absence of vulnerability, shame, and anxiety[4](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01).
The ICD-10 category it replaces was defined by at least three of six features: disregard for the feelings of others and for social norms, rules, and obligations; gross and persistent irresponsibility; incapacity to maintain relationships; low tolerance of frustration and a low threshold for aggression and violence; incapacity to experience guilt or to learn from experience, including punishment; and a tendency to blame others or to offer rationalizations for the behavior[5](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg77/evidence/full-guideline-pdf-242104429). DSM-5 antisocial personality disorder differs from that ICD-10 category in requiring evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15[12](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8094166/).
**Psychopathy.** [Psychopathy](https://www.edgepedia.org/psychopathy) does not appear in ICD-11, and it remains undefined in clinical diagnostic guidelines generally, although it is relevant in forensic settings[4](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01) • [11](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41983-023-00717-4). The terms antisocial, sociopathic, and psychopathic have all appeared in psychiatric nosologies; the ICD adopted "dissocial" to mean much the same as "antisocial"[13](https://assets.cambridge.org/97819116/23984/excerpt/9781911623984_excerpt.pdf).
## Antisocial behavior outside the clinic
In criminology and community policy the term describes conduct that disturbs public order without necessarily constituting a crime. The Australian Institute of Criminology notes that some behaviors, such as truancy, may be considered antisocial because of the behavioral problems associated with them or because they represent a deviation from social norms, and that communities and local law enforcement agencies sometimes criminalize acts which could be classed as socially unacceptable antisocial behaviors rather than crimes[2](https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rip/rip5). Most incidents are not particularly serious, but because they often take place in public spaces they are more visible, which contributes to community perceptions of how prevalent antisocial behavior is[2](https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rip/rip5). The scale of this usage is substantial: one million anti-social behavior cases were recorded in [England and Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/england-and-wales) in 2025[6](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.19492).
## What changed from ICD-10 to ICD-11
The revision moved antisocial conduct from diagnosis to description in two directions at once. As a recorded sign, MB23.1 gives clinicians a code for the behavior itself, usable with any underlying condition[1](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/) • [3](https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41519/1/WHO_Clinical_descriptions_and_diagnostic_requirements_ICD-11.pdf). As a personality pattern, the categorical labels of ICD-10, including dissocial personality disorder, gave way to a severity-graded diagnosis qualified by trait domains, with antisociality expressed as a combination of dissociality, disinhibition, and low negative affectivity rather than a stand-alone category[4](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01) • [11](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41983-023-00717-4). ICD-11 was adopted by the 72nd World Health Assembly in 2019 and came into effect on 1 January 2022[14](https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/classification-of-diseases).
## References
1. [MB23.1 Antisocial behaviour, ICD-11 category](https://www.icd11-code.com/mb23-1/)
2. [Key issues in antisocial behaviour, Australian Institute of Criminology](https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rip/rip5)
3. [Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Requirements for ICD-11 Mental, Behavioural or Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CDDR), WHO](https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41519/1/WHO_Clinical_descriptions_and_diagnostic_requirements_ICD-11.pdf)
4. [Chapter 1. Classification and Definition of Antisocial Personality Disorder, Psychiatry Online](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.books.9781615379590.lg01)
5. [Antisocial Personality Disorder, NICE guideline CG77 full guideline](https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg77/evidence/full-guideline-pdf-242104429)
6. [Translating Ethical Frameworks Into User-Centred Anti-Social Behaviour Interventions, arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.19492)
7. [ICD-11 (2023年1月版) 分類の表記に用いる用語の和訳案, 厚生労働省](https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10701000/001278085.pdf)
8. [Innovations and changes in the ICD-11 classification of mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorders, World Psychiatry](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6313247/)
9. [Conduct disorder, Nature Reviews Disease Primers](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41572-019-0095-y)
10. [Psychopathy and the limited prosocial emotions specifier, Psychiatria Fennica](https://www.psykiatriantutkimussaatio.fi/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Psychiatria_Fennica%E2%94%ACa2024_Heikkila%E2%95%A0e_et_al.pdf)
11. [Psychopathology of antisocial personality disorder, Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41983-023-00717-4)
12. [Psychological interventions for antisocial personality disorder, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8094166/)
13. [Excerpt on antisocial, sociopathic, and psychopathic constructs, Cambridge University Press](https://assets.cambridge.org/97819116/23984/excerpt/9781911623984_excerpt.pdf)
14. [International Classification of Diseases (ICD), World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/classification-of-diseases)
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