Thomas Wojciechowski

Michigan State University | MSU · School of Criminal Justice

Recent research has indicated that deviant peers may play a role in cognitive development. This is particularly the case for the dual systems model, a key framework for understanding engagement in antisocial behavior during adolescence and emerging adulthood. However, limited research has examined how preexisting mental health concerns may moderate...

Exposure to violence has been found to predict cocaine use, but evidence is limited in terms of how different forms of exposure to violence impact use and how the relevance of these relationships may vary across adolescence and emerging adulthood. This study tested for differential salience of witnessed violence and direct victimization predictors...

Research has indicated that criminality may be transmitted from parent to offspring. However, there remains limited research examining risk for offspring recidivism in this regard and mechanisms underpinning this relationship. The present study examined dual systems imbalance as a potential mediator using the first three waves of the Pathways to De...

Background: Major depressive disorder and heavy-episodic drinking are risk factors for the development of anxiety. However, the interactive effect between these constructs for predicting anxiety symptoms remains understudied. Aims: This study sought to examine how major depressive disorder moderates the relationship between heavy-episodic drinki...

Background: Alcohol dependence is a risk factor for experiencing victimisation, but little is known about how peer and behavioural mechanisms may explain this relationship. Aims: To test deviant peer association and/or heavy-episodic drinking frequency as mediators between alcohol dependence and risk for being victimised. Methods: The Pathways...

Research on the role that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) plays as a moderator of the relationship between exposure to violence and violent recidivism is limited. The Pathways to Desistance data were analyzed to examine these relationships. Survival analysis was used to examine ADHD as a risk factor predicting time to violent recidi...

Neighborhood disorder is a risk factor for substance use, but research is limited with regard to the effect of such disorder on polydrug use. Further, research on potential mechanisms underlying this relationship is similarly limited. The current study examined the direct effect of neighborhood disorder on drug use variety and examined deviant peer...

Deviant peer association has been identified as a risk factor for firearm carrying among adolescents. However, there remains a dearth of research examining mechanisms explaining this relationship. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining victimization and moral disengagement as mediators of the relationship between deviant peer...

Prior life-course research has indicated support for the existence of a late bloomer offending trajectory characterized by minimal offending risk during adolescence and sharp acceleration of offending in adulthood. While some research has sought to understand drivers of such patterns of offending, there remain gaps in the literature pertaining to s...

Prior research has highlighted persistent racial/ethnic disparities in employment and workforce engagement. That said, this research has yet to be extended to justice-involved youth. This is problematic, given that this is a population that may already face barriers to employment and certain racial/ethnic minority groups may then face additional ba...

Research has identified violence exposure as a risk factor for depression, but there remain gaps in the understanding of this relationship. Knowing how this relationship may vary based on when in the life-course that violence exposure occurs is one area in need of greater attention. Also, being exposed to multiple types of violence across multiple...

Research on alcohol outlet density consistently shows greater disparities in exposure in disinvested communities. Likewise, structural racism via discriminatory housing practices has created many of the issues that beset contemporary disinvested neighborhoods. Little work, however, has examined the relationship between housing practices and alcohol...

Exposure to violence has been identified as a robust risk factor for substance use. While criminological theories have also been demonstrated to be relevant for predicting this behaviour, there is limited research that compares the role that exposure to violence plays in this regard across multiple theories. There have also been issues in not accou...

This study sought to understand developmental heterogeneity in dual systems model imbalance. Furthermore, the study sought to examine relevance of imbalanced development for understanding behavioral outcomes. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to estimate heterogeneity in dual systems imb...

Prior research has posited that marijuana may act as a gateway drug that increases risk for progression to other forms of drug use. However, many cognitive mechanisms posited to underpin this relationship are general risk factors associated with other behaviors also, like violence. This study investigated whether marijuana use initiation during ado...

Income offending presents a major criminal justice issue associated with generating financial gain through illicit means. Such crimes may cause financial harm on an individual level and lead to additional strain on our criminal justice system when criminals who engage in such offending are caught and prosecuted. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD...

Objective: Research on alcohol environments has established that poorer and minoritized communities are frequently overburdened by off-premise outlets (e.g., liquor stores). These outlets have more associated harms, including increased alcohol consumption and crime rates. Little, if any, research has shown how these socio-spatial disparities in ex...

Post-traumatic stress disorder and deviant peer association have been identified as robust risk factors predicting violent offending. However, there is a dearth of research which has examined interactive effects of these constructs for predicting violence perpetration. The present study utilized data from the Pathways to Desistance study to test fo...

Leveraging community engagement from past research may yield frameworks on which to build new inquiries. We previously integrated community voice into the development of a healthfulness index to increase awareness of social determinants of health in the built environment and inform deployment of public health interventions in the Flint (Michigan, U...

COVID-19’s rapid onset left many public health entities scrambling. But establishing community-academic partnerships to digest data and create advocacy steps offers an opportunity to link research to action. Here we document disparities in COVID-19 death uncovered during a collaboration between a health department and university research center. We...

Borderline personality disorder has been identified as a robust risk factor predicting substance use. There is a dearth of research examining how peer ties may condition this relationship. This study hypothesized that deviant peer association would amplify the relationship between Borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms and substance use. Th...

Little research has examined the relevance of peer influences for impacting development of dual systems model constructs and examined protective factors in these relationships among adolescents (Ages: 14-26; ∼86% male). This study examined the relevance of deviant peer association for predicting development of sensation-seeking and impulse control...

Prior research has indicated that deviant peer association is associated with increased risk for stimulant/amphetamine use. However, there remain gaps in our understanding of the context under which this relationship occurs. This study examined two forms of exposure to violence (direct victimization, witnessed violence) as moderators of the relatio...

The dual systems model is a developmental cognitive framework found to have utility for explaining engagement in antisocial behavior. Centered on differential development of sensation-seeking and impulse control, the theory has risen to prominence. Despite this, there is limited understanding of how exposure to violence may drive development in the...

Deviant peer association has been identified as a risk factor for substance use. Anxiety has been examined as a moderator of this relationship in a limited capacity. Despite this, investigations of specific dimensions of anxiety as moderators of this relationship remain understudied. This study examined three dimensions of anxiety as moderators: ph...

The dual systems model is a prominent framework for understanding how differential cognitive development of impulse control and sensation-seeking predicts peak involvement in risky behaviors during adolescence. This study examines heterogeneity in the development of dual systems constructs and examines post-traumatic stress disorder as a driver of...

There is an ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to detect and assess online posting behaviors of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, but little is empirically known about their online behaviors generally or the differences in their behaviors compared with nonviolent extremists who share simila...

This study, using a sample of youth offenders from the Pathways to Desistance Study (N=1,354), examines Greenberger and Sorensen's model of "psychosocial maturity" as a predictor of legal socialization (legal cynicism, legitimacy) across the adolescent developmental course and to examine the differential importance of this relationship by age. Psyc...

Hostility has been identified as a risk factor in predicting offending. Some research has conceptualized hostility as a facet of mental health. One factor that has been identified to be protective against the effects of mental health on behavioral outcomes is social support. Despite this, prior research has not considered social support in this man...

Illicit drug sales present a public health issue that results in proliferation of drug use–related problems, like overdose deaths, stemming from use of illicit drugs. However, there remain gaps in understanding of psychosocial and developmental processes involved with predicting drug sales. Deviant peer association presents one potential risk facto...

This study sought to understand how PTSD predicts opioid use onset rates and how subsequent exposures to violence also influence this risk following adjudication. Survival analysis was used to examine the moderating role that baseline PTSD status plays for predicting rates of opioid use onset risk following adjudication. Hazard models used to exami...

Purpose: The establishment of community-academic partnerships to digest data and create actionable policy and advocacy steps is of continuing importance. In this paper, we document COVID-19 racial and geographic disparities uncovered via a collaboration between a local health department and university research center. Methods: We leverage indivi...

Borderline personality disorder has been identified as a risk factor for polydrug use. Despite this, there remains a lack of understanding of which characteristics of the disorder provide the mechanisms for this relationship. This study examined a set of constructs as mechanisms explaining the borderline personality disorder-polydrug use relationsh...

Stimulant/amphetamine use presents a major public health problem. There is a dearth of research which has studied this behavior from a dual systems model perspective. This study examined the relevance of sensation-seeking and impulse control for predicting stimulant/amphetamine use and tested whether these relationships varied as a function of time...

Drug dealers may be at increased risk for drug use. However, there is a dearth of research focused on how these relationships develop across time. Group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) was used to assess heterogeneity in the development of drug dealing behavior. Line graphs modeling the average frequency of use of drugs across time based on trajec...

Background Prior research has indicated that exposure to violence is a risk factor associated with cigarette smoking. However, the relevance of variety of exposure for predicting this outcome has remained underexplored. This is problematic, as increased variety of exposure may represent a measure of severity of trauma exposure with less recall bias...

Background: Past research has indicated that individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may demonstrate increased sensitivity to stress exposure following onset of the disorder. Thus, having PTSD may amplify the effects of subsequent stressors. This has been found to be relevant in some forms of substance use but relationship...

Introduction: Antisocial personality disorder is a risk factor associated with increased risk for substance-impaired driving. While past research has focused on identifying prevalence rates for the disorder among substance-impaired drivers, there is a dearth of research focused on identifying the mechanisms by which the disorder actually functions...

Past research has indicated that Major Depressive Disorder and exposure to violence are risk factors for offending. However, researchers have yet to examine how this disorder may predict recidivism risk among juvenile offenders and how the disorder moderates the effect of exposure to violence. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to determine th...

There is limited research which has examined the developmental nature of friendships and their relevance for offending. This study examined heterogeneity in the development of justice system-involved friendship proportionality and its relevance for predicting offending continuity in emerging adulthood. Having a greater proportion of such peers with...

Objective Understand the relationship between polyvictimization and engagement in HIV risk behaviors. Examine the potential mediating role of depression for this relationship. Methods This study utilized data from the Pathways to Desistance study. This study comprised the responses of 1354 juvenile offenders across the 84 months following adjudica...

This policy note highlights the importance of both identifying and examining the online behaviors of violent and non-violent extremists in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with a number of recommendations for detecting and analyzing the online behaviors of violent and non-...

Past research as indicated the relevance of the dual systems model for understanding offending. However, there is a dearth of research focused on how deviant peer influence may condition the relationships between dual systems constructs (impulsivity and sensation seeking) and offending. The present study utilized data from 248 undergraduate student...

Although the past research has indicated that features of borderline personality disorder (BPD) increase the risk for violence, much less research has examined the mediators of this relationship. This study examined the mediating roles that impulsivity and emotion dysregulation may play in explaining the relationship between BPD and violence. The P...

Background: While the dual system model has been found to have utility for predicting drug use, examinations have yet to extend to the clinically relevant issue of drug/alcohol dependence. This study sought to provide better understanding of how the dual systems model constructs (impulse control and sensation-seeking) predicted risk for drug/alcoh...

Social learning theory is one of the most prominent criminological theories of the 20th century. The dual systems model represents an emerging framework in recent years, which may help to better understand how social learning processes are influenced by sensation-seeking and impulse control. This study utilized data from all waves of the Pathways t...

Cumulative victimization represents the summation of victimization experiences across multiple contexts, with greater accumulation generally predicting greater dysfunction than less accumulation of exposures. Past research has indicated that cumulative victimization predicts increased risk for future revictimization also. The dual systems model may...

Background: Antisocial personality disorder (APD) has been linked to increased risk for polydrug use (PU). However, there is a dearth of research focusing on the mechanisms underlying this risk. Aims: To examine the relationship between APD and PU; to test for the mediating effects of deviant peer association (DVA) and self-control in this relat...

Despite the ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to identify and assess the online activities of violent extremists prior to their engagement in violence offline, little is empirically known about their online behaviors generally or differences in their posting behaviors compared to non-violent extremists who share similar...

This study sought to examine patterns of change and continuity in psychological domestic abuse as a strain-related process that may be predictive of violent offending in adulthood. This study also examined the mediating role of negative affect in this relationship. The Pathways to Desistance data were utilized in analyses. This sample comprised 1,3...

Polyvictimization, moral disengagement, impulse control, and hostility are all risk factors for violent offending. The present study tested a multiple mediation model to identify pathways leading from polyvictimization early in life to violent offending risk in adulthood. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Group-based trajectory...

Past research has linked the development of borderline personality disorder to earlier exposure to violence. However, the causal link by which this relationship exists has not yet been fully identified. The present study sought to examine how exposure to violence predicted heterogeneity in the development of depressive systems and results in the ar...

Antisocial personality disorder is a risk factor for opioid use. There is a dearth of research which examines self-control and moral disengagement as potential mediators of this relationship. This study utilized data from the Pathways to Desistance study in analyses. Generalized structural equation modeling was utilized to test for mediation of the...

Deviant peer association has been identified as a risk factor for cocaine/crack use. However, understanding is more limited regarding the stability in the salience of this effect across the life-course. The present study utilized the Pathways to Desistance data to test for variance in the magnitude of the relationship between deviant peer associati...

Hostility and low self-control are two hallmark characteristics of antisocial personality disorder and are also risk factors for offending. This study tested for mediating effects of these concepts for explaining the antisocial personality disorder-offending relationship. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Generalized structural...

Many researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are concerned about online communities that are known to facilitate violent right-wing extremism, but little is empirically known about these digital spaces in general and the developmental posting behaviors that make up these spaces in particular. In this study, group-based trajectory modeling—deri...

Past research has provided evidence that techniques of neutralization may be used to rationalize offending, and individuals who endorse such rationalizations demonstrate greater offending risk. However, there is a dearth of research focused on how the endorsement of multiple techniques of neutralization may cluster together within an individual. Th...

Research has indicated a relationship between neighborhood disorder and risk for offending, but little has taken a developmental perspective. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify latent developmental patterns of exposure to community disorder during adolescence and adulthood. Negative binomial regression and logistic regression were...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with increased risk for polydrug use. Low self-control is a key characteristic of the disorder and is predictive of polydrug use. However, there is a dearth of research focused on the relevance of a dual systems model delineation of self-control into the constructs of risk-seeking and impulsivity...

Background Past research has indicated that dual systems model constructs (impulsivity, sensation-seeking) are predictors of binge drinking. Further, engagement in routine unstructured social activities also predicts elevated risk for binge drinking. However, there has yet to be any research that examines the interactive effect of these constructs....

This study sought to identify developmental patterns of gang membership among a sample of juvenile offenders during adolescence and early adulthood. Examine the relevance of PTSD for predicting development. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify developmental patterns of gang memb...

This study sought to examine differences in developmental patterns of social consequences of drug use among youth offenders and investigate the relevance of race for predicting trajectory-group assignment. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses, comprising the responses of 1,354 juvenile offenders followed across 84 months after an a...

Background Cigarette use is a public health issue and juvenile offenders are at risk for engagement in substance use. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been linked to elevated risk for cigarette use and juvenile offenders are at elevated risk for mental health issues. Objectives To elucidate general patterns of development of cig...

The dual systems model of self-control has been found to be relevant for explaining offending. However, there has yet to be any study of these constructs (risk-seeking and impulse control) as they relate to adjudicated youth. This study utilized data from the Pathways to Desistance study, a dataset comprising responses of 1354 juvenile offenders ac...

There is a burgeoning base of research identifying personality as a predictor of offending. However, research has focused on personality dimensions, rather than full personality profiles as predictors. The present study utilized the Pathways to Desistance data to examine the relationship between personality profiles and offending. This sample compr...

The present study sought to elucidate developmental patterns of perceived costs and rewards of offending and examine the relevance of this development for predicting offending in adulthood. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify latent patterns of development for both constructs....

Past research on desistance from offending has indicated the importance of both turning points and snares in the life course. Despite similarities, there has been little effort to reconcile the intertwined nature of these two concepts. The present study seeks to provide understanding of how the timing of entering fatherhood and the number of childr...

Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been identified by past research as a risk factor for substance use. Further, past research has indicated that individuals with PTSD may demonstrate an increased sensitivity to strain. Despite this, no study has examined the relevance of these processes for understanding binge drinking behaviors...

Objectives Investigate the relevance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-linked strain sensitivity associated with exposure to violence for predicting violence outcomes among juvenile offenders during adolescence and early adulthood. Methods This study uses the Pathways to Desistance data and to test relevant relationships. Two series of nega...

Background: Abuse of psychoactive substances may lead to physical and/or physiological dependence on said substances. While a great deal of research has focused on risk factors predicting onset, there has been little research focused on risk factors influencing continued dependence on substances in adulthood following onset early in life. Purpose/O...

Research has demonstrated the importance of early-life behavioral issues for predicting risk for offending throughout the life-course. However, there has yet to be any study that has examined how early behavior problems may cluster together and how these clusters predict offending across the life-course. Latent class analysis was used to identify b...

Drunk/high driving presents a public health problem. Despite issues caused by this behavior, there is a dearth of research focused on studying this phenomenon developmentally. This study seeks to examine heterogeneity in developmental patterns of drunk/high driving. Beyond this, there has been little examination of the relevance of social learning...

Deviant peer association and antisocial personality disorder are risk factors for drug use and violent offending. However, there has yet to be research that focuses on how deviant peer association may moderate the impact of antisocial personality disorder on these outcomes. Data from Wave 10 of the Pathways to Desistance dataset were used in analys...

Borderline personality disorder and exposure to violence are both risk factors for opioid use. While past research has identified these relationships, there has yet to be any study which investigates the potential that exposure to violence may help explain the relationship between borderline personality disorder symptoms and opioid use as a mediato...

Social support is a highly relevant predictor of offending. Despite this, little research has examined how this construct develops over time and how withdrawal of social support may result in “late bloomer” offending. This study used the Pathways to Desistance to data to test hypotheses related to these research questions. Group-based trajectory mo...

Despite the amount of attention paid to marijuana use, there has yet to be any research that examines heterogeneity in the development of marijuana dealing behavior across time. This research used group-based trajectory modeling to elucidate developmental trends in this behavior and examines how risk factors may predict heterogeneity in marijuana d...

This study sought to elucidate heterogeneity in developmental patterns of romantic relationship characteristics and examine the relevance of patterns for predicting offending in adulthood. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to elucidate trajectory groups describing developmental heterogeneity of odds of having a romantic partner and romantic...

Aims: Investigate patterns of change and continuity in opioid use among juvenile offenders during adolescence and early adulthood. Identify demographic characteristics of trajectory groups of opioid users. Examine the relevance of risk factors for predicting assignment to opioid use trajectory groups. Methods: The Pathways to Desistance sample,...

Antisocial personality disorder is a mental illness that is a major public health concern. Both post-traumatic stress disorder and association with antisocial peers have been found to be associated with increased risk for diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. Despite this, past research has yet to examine the interrelatedness of these three...

Background: Polydrug use is a major public health issue associated with numerous undesirable physical and mental health outcomes. While past research has identified risk factors for polydrug use and elevated drug use variety, there has yet to be any research which seeks to examine this phenomenon from a developmental perspective. There also has ye...

Purpose Investigate differences in community mental health service utilization by race among a sample of juvenile offenders in the time surrounding adjudication for a serious offense. It was predicted that racial minority youth would demonstrate lower utilization of these services. Methods The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Thi...

The objectives of this article are to identify groups of trajectories of stimulant use across adolescence and early adulthood among juvenile offenders and to identify risk factors predicting development. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify developmental subgroups of stimulant users during the study period. Multinomial logistic regr...

Objectives Elucidate susceptibility to peer influence developmental trajectories across adolescence and early adulthood among a sample of juvenile offenders. Examine the relevance of susceptibility to peer influence and the interaction between deviant peer association and susceptibility to peer influence for predicting offending frequency in early...

This study seeks to examine heterogeneity in developmental patterns of ecstasy use during adolescence and early adulthood among juvenile offenders and identify risk factors predicting development. Group-based trajectory modeling was utilized to elucidate heterogeneity in developmental patterns of ecstasy use. Multinomial logistic regression was uti...

This research examined the development of anxiety across adolescence and early adulthood among a sample of juvenile offenders comprising males and females. In addition, despite the understanding of maternal substance abuse and maternal unemployment as risk factors predicting development of anxiety, this research examined the interaction between the...

The “threat” portion of the threat/control override symptom constellation is characterized by the belief by an individual that others seek to do them harm. There has yet to be an examination of the link between perceived threat symptomatology and the experience of victimization, despite the fact that both constructs are linked to the perpetration o...

This study builds on past research to examine the association of engagement in consistently high binge drinking behavior in adolescence with the concurrent development of marijuana use and to better understand the development of marijuana use during adolescence among a sample of juvenile offenders. This research used group-based trajectory analysis...

Objectives This study sought to describe the heterogeneity in developmental patterns of deviant peer association across adolescence and early adulthood among juvenile offenders and examine the relevance of this heterogeneity for predicting offending in early adulthood. Methods All waves of the pathways to desistance sample were utilized in analyses...

This research provides a test of general strain theory examining the relevance of strain recency, the role of victimization history for predicting anger development, and the relevance of anger development for mediating this relationship. Analyses utilized group-based trajectory modeling to elucidate patterns of anger development and also utilized m...

Self-injury is typically defined as the intentional harm caused to one’s own body. This phenomenon has historically been studied mainly from a psychological perspective and has focused less on social forces related to engagement in this behavior. While research on self-injury has examined etiology extensively, there has yet to be an examination of...

While research has consistently identified attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a risk factor for alcohol use in adolescence, there has yet to be an examination of how the multiple presentations of the disorder may differentially predict alcohol use. Some have posited that the individual symptom clusters of attention deficit hyperacti...

Past research has identified attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a risk factor for engagement in violent offending. Despite the link between the disorder and violent offending, this risk factor has yet to be examined as a predictor of heterogeneity in the development of violent offending among juvenile offenders. It is likely that th...

Cocaine and crack are illicit drugs linked to numerous health issues. Despite the public health issues which these drugs present, there has yet to be an examination of the heterogeneity which exists in the developmental course of use of these drugs among a group at-risk for substance abuse: juvenile offenders. Furthermore, the role that posttraumat...

Research has indicated that post-traumatic stress disorder is linked to heightened levels of alcohol use. Sensitivity to strain may increase alcohol use as a coping strategy among this population. Using the Pathways to Desistance dataset, this research examines these effects among juvenile offenders and the experience of victimization as strain. Re...

Binge drinking has been linked to numerous health issues. Juvenile offenders may be at increased risk for binge drinking. ADHD has been demonstrated to be a predictor of substance use. The development of binge drinking behavior and the role of ADHD for predicting this development among this population has not yet been explored. This research uses g...

Violent offending is a public health problem disproportionately perpetrated by adolescents. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been identified as a risk factor that increases an individual’s odds of engaging in violent behavior. Juvenile offenders are a population indicated to be at high risk of the development and perpetuation of violent beh...

Self-injury is a deviant behavior often understood as the intentional infliction of harm onto one’s own body that exists absent of suicidal. This study uses a qualitative methodology to examine the etiology and perpetuation of self-injury using the terminology of relevant social-psychological theories to determine which processes best describe a ca...