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Abstract
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Examined the interrelationships and predictors of involvement in delinquent activities and illicit drug use over a 9-yr interval, from adolescence (age 15-16 yrs) to young adulthood (age 24-25 yrs) in 1,004 adolescents formerly enrolled in Grades 10 and 11 in public schools. Data from structured personal interviews indicate that persistence of illicit drug use was greater than for delinquency and was higher among men than among women. Adult illicit drug use was better predicted by adolescent illicit drug use among men; for women, early drug use predicted later delinquent behavior. However, illicit drug use selectively predicted adult participation in theft among men and women but had no effect on interpersonal aggression. Failure to enter the conventional roles of adulthood was an important predictor of continued illicit drug use in adulthood. (52 ref)
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study by Kandel et al. was to examine the interrelationships and predictors of delinquency and illicit drug use among adolescents who were followed till adulthood.
METHODOLOGY:
A longitudinal quasi-experimental design was employed. The study focused on three issues: 1) the prevalence and persistence of self-reported aggressive and nonaggressive delinquent behavior and drug use among young adults, 2) the extent to which delinquency and drug use predict involvement in the same or different behaviors from adolescence to young adulthood, and 3) to determine what risk factors from adolescence were predictive of delinquency and illicit drug use in early adulthood, whether the risk factors are similar or different, and whether the risk factors differ by gender. A self administered questionnaire was given to a multi-stage random sample of high school students in New York State. The adolescents in the selected homerooms completed questionnaires during the fall semester in 1971 when they were age 15-16, and a sample of half of those youth were interviewed again nine years later at the age of 24-25. The questionnaire included questions regarding delinquency and drug use in adolescence and adulthood, as well as social control and social learning variables. Delinquency was measured by three scales. A scale of interpersonal aggression (alpha=.69) was made up of the participation in five items: a serious fight, hurt someone badly, hit an instructor or supervisor, taken a car, and having participated in a gang fight. The theft scale (alpha=.75) was composed of three items: shoplifting, theft under $50, and theft over $50. The last delinquency scale was a vandalism scale (alpha=.51) which included two items: damaged property at school or work, and taken a car. The vandalism scale was not included in the analysis because it had an extremely skewed distribution and had an item that loaded on the aggression scale. A general delinquency scale (alpha=.63) which was measured at Time 1 was also used. This scale asked about their lifetime participation in five acts (taken a car, banged up something that did not belong to them on purpose, theft over $50, held up or robbed a person, played the numbers racket) and their participation in the last three months of six acts (theft under $2, theft $2-50, been sent out of a classroom by a teacher, cheated on a class test, runaway from home or stayed out all night without parent's permission, and driven to fast). The drug use questions asked whether the youth had ever used any of the following substances for nonmedical reasons: marijuana, psychedelics, tranquilizers, sedatives, stimulants, methadone anti-depressants, cocaine, and heroin. Adolescent measures of social control and social learning theories included: family intactness, mother's frequency of psychoactive drug use, closeness to parents, maternal decision-making (permissive), maternal decision making (authoritarian), peer activity index, and commitment to school index. Intervening variables included: high school dropout, highest year of school completed, and ever arrested. The data was analyzed using multiple regression and the findings were reported in both zero ordered correlations and standardized betas.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The prevalence of delinquency and illicit drug use among this cohort was summarized by several trends. First, a smaller proportion of individuals committed delinquent acts in the last twelve months compared to their life time use. Second, while females were less likely than men to initially get involved in delinquency, once they were involved, they were just as likely as males to remain involved. Third, delinquency persisted among a substantial portion of those who were ever involved in delinquency. Fourth, persistence of illicit drug use was higher than for persistence of delinquent acts. Specifically, over 75% of males who ever used illicit drugs (at least 10 times) remained active users of that drug at age 24-25, compared to about 50% of those involved in delinquency. Finally, although the proportion was lower for females, similar patterns were found with the exception of their persistent participation in theft, and their persistence in illicit drug use. In terms of the relationship between delinquency and substance abuse, the authors found that involvement in illicit drug use was related to delinquency. Specifically, those who used illicit drugs (other than marijuana) were more delinquent that those who only used marijuana or had tried illicit drugs but were not currently using them. The causal models indicated that for males, both adolescent delinquency and illicit drug use predicted the same behavior in early adulthood. That is, adolescent delinquency predicted early adulthood delinquency and adolescent illicit drug use predicted early adulthood illicit drug use. The interrelationship between the two behaviors were found to vary by gender. For women, adolescent delinquency did not predict later deviance, but adolescent illicit drug use predicted later use. Among the men, adolescent delinquency predicted later illicit drug use, but adolescent illicit drug use did not predict later deviance. Among females, adolescent illicit drug use predicted theft, and marijuana use predicted interpersonal aggression. The authors found five adolescent risk factors that predicted delinquency (theft or fighting) in young adulthood for men. The only risk factors in adolescence that predicted theft at age 24-25 were delinquency, and cumulative illicit drug use. Adolescent risk factors for fighting at age 24-25 were maternal authoritarian decision making, delinquency, and high school dropout. For females, there were three adolescent risk factors that predicted theft at age 24-25 and only two for fighting. The risk factors for theft were: 1) having had a parent or sibling who were ever treated for an emotional disorder, 2) depression, and 3) cumulative illicit drug use. The risk factors for fighting were: 1) those who had a parent or sibling who were ever treated for an emotional disorder, and 2) those who were arrested as adolescents. There were three adolescent risk factors that predicted marijuana use for males at age 24-25 and four for illicit drug use. The risk factors for marijuana use were: 1) number of times unemployed including never worked, 2) use of cigarettes, 3) and cumulative marijuana and illicit drug use. For illicit drug use at 24-25, 1) depression (negative effect), 2) ever married (negative effect), 3) cigarette use, and 4) cumulative marijuana and illicit drug use as adolescents were important predictors. For females, there were three risk factors that were predictive of marijuana use later in life and three for illicit drug use. Marijuana use was predicted by 1) parent or sibling being treated for emotional disorder, 2) closeness to parents, and 3) cumulative marijuana and illicit drug use. The risk factors for illicit drug use were 1) authoritarian maternal decision making, 2) ever married (negative effect), and 3) cumulative marijuana and illicit drug use. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Delinquency Predictors
KW - Delinquency Risk Factors
KW - New York
KW - Juvenile Delinquency
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Substance Use
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Adult Crime
KW - Adult Substance Use
KW - Juvenile Crime
KW - Crime Causes
KW - Crime Risk Factors
KW - Crime Predictors
KW - Substance Use Causes
KW - Substance Use Predictors
KW - Substance Use Risk Factors
KW - Delinquency Causes
KW - Drug Use Causes
KW - Young Adult
KW - Life Course
KW - Follow-Up Studies
Language: en |