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Is the association between drug use and delinquency weakening?
Abstract
In this paper we examine period or secular changes in the association between drug use and delinquency among Ontario adolescent students between 1983 and 1991. The results show that during this period drug use and drug-setting declined significantly, whereas reported non-drug-related delinquency increased. In addition to differing secular trends in rates of drug use and delinquent behaviour, the association between the two behaviours weakened. There was a steady decline in the correlations between drug use and delinquency across time, and the typological patterning of drug use and delinquency changed significantly.
Introduction and aims:
The multiple risk model postulates that accumulating risk factors increase adolescent drunkenness and smoking. The normalisation theory adds to this by arguing that the relation between accumulative risk and drunkenness and smoking is dependent on the distribution of these behaviours in the larger population. More concretely, normalisation theory predicts that: (i) when population level use increases, low risk adolescents will be more likely to use alcohol and cigarettes; and (ii) adolescents facing multiple risk factors will be equally likely to use alcohol and cigarettes, regardless of trends in population level use. The current study empirically tests these assumptions on five waves of nationally representative samples of Israeli Jewish youth.
Design and methods:
Five cross-sectional waves of data from the Israeli Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey for Jewish 10th graders were used. Logistic regression models measured the impact of changes in population level use across waves on drunkenness and smoking, and their association with differing levels of risk factors.
Results:
Between zero and two risk factors, the risk of drunkenness and smoking increases for each additional risk factor. When reaching two risk factors, added risk does not significantly increase the likelihood of smoking and drunkenness. Changes in population level drunkenness and smoking did not systematically relate to changes in the individual level relationship between risk factors and smoking and drunkenness.
Discussion and conclusions:
The pattern of results in this study provides strong evidence for the multiple risk factor model and inconsistent evidence for the normalisation theory. [Sznitman SR, Zlotnick C, Harel-Fisch Y. Normalisation theory: Does it accurately describe temporal changes in adolescent drunkenness and smoking? Drug Alcohol Rev 2015].
This research examined whether national population-level cannabis frequency rates moderate the strength of the relationship between individual-level psychosocial and behavioral risk factors (poor parental communication, bullying, fighting, etc.) and different levels of adolescent cannabis use (abstinence, experimental use, and regular use).
Data from the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey (N = 62,009, age = 15 years) from 31 countries were analyzed using multinomial hierarchical linear modeling.
Analyses showed that adolescents who reported experimental cannabis use and who lived in relatively high cannabis frequency countries were less likely than their counterparts in low cannabis frequency countries to present some of the cannabis-related psychosocial and behavioral risk factors. Conversely, regular cannabis use tended to occur among high-risk adolescents to an equal degree in high and low cannabis frequency countries.
The findings suggest that the normality of cannabis use in the youth population is important to consider when investigating the relationship between risk factors and cannabis use. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 76, 181-189, 2015).
The substance use normalization thesis predicts that adolescent substance users are less likely to report substance use risk factors in high than in low prevalence countries. This study tests whether national population-level alcohol, cigarette and cannabis prevalence rates moderate the strength of the relationship between individual level social and behavioral risk factors and individual level alcohol, cigarette and cannabis use. Data from 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (N = 68,045, age = 15) from 35 countries was analyzed using logistic Hierarchical Linear Modeling. As expected based on low cannabis prevalence rates in all countries studied, no evidence of normalization was found for recent cannabis use. Also in line with the normalization thesis, results show that for substance use that reaches above 40% in at least some of the countries studied (drunkenness, alcohol and cigarette use), adolescents who reported use are less likely to report social and behavioral risk factors in high prevalence countries than in low prevalence countries. However, support for the normalization thesis was only partial in that results show that in models where evidence for normalization was found, there are risk factors that predict substance use to an equal degree regardless of country level prevalence rates. The current research shows that the normalization thesis is a useful framework for understanding the contextual aspects of adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use. The study has implications for drug prevention as it suggests that selective prevention efforts may be particularly useful in low prevalence countries where screening based on risk factors may usefully identify adolescents at most risk for developing drug use problems. This approach may be less useful in high prevalence countries where screening based on risk factors is less likely to satisfactorily identify those at risk for developing drug use problems.
Despite a juvenile justice system that, since its inception in 1908, has been predicated on meeting the rehabilitative needs of youth, Canada has few specialized programs for substance misusing young offenders, preferring more holistic approaches. This is in keeping with an addictions treatment system that has evolved recently in the direction of more integrated services within the general health care and social services delivery systems. In addition, Canada has tended to emphasize community-based over institutional treatment programs. Nevertheless, for youth in conflict with the law, "substance abuse" is recognized as a significant risk factor for recidivism. The approximately 9000 young persons held in custodial facilities on any given day across the country are exposed to a variety of programs aimed at reducing antisocial behavior and hence, re-offending. Some of these have a substance use component. Programs for Aboriginal youth offer some of the most innovative approaches for particular drug use problems. This article provides an overview of the Canadian response and elaborates features of some programs, particularly Multisystemic Therapy, mainly in the province of Ontario. Few programs have received adequate evaluation, however, and the need for systematic assessment is crucial for the development of future effective interventions for youth with multiple drug and other problems.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between illicit drug and alcohol use, problem drinking, and road rage. Particular attention is devoted to the association between these behaviors and frequent involvement in road rage activities. The data are taken from the 2002 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Monitor, a representative telephone survey with a sample of 2421 adults aged 18 and older in Ontario. A cluster analysis was performed and analysis of variance procedures were used to test for group differences. The cluster analysis revealed five distinct groups involved in various types of road rage behavior. Frequent road ragers, accounting for 5.3% of the sample, were involved in the most severe forms of road rage behavior and were most likely (24%) to report problem drinking and past year cannabis (23.8%), cocaine (5.4%), and ecstasy (10%) use. These data indicate that illicit drug use and alcohol problems are significantly greater for those involved in the most serious forms of road rage behavior. Further work is needed to identify the mechanisms by which illicit drug use and problem drinking are linked to road rage.
This longitudinal study examines the relationship between earlier paternal drug abuse, environmental factors, paternal child-rearing practices, and adolescent vulnerable personality attributes and later adolescent aggressive behavior. Data were collected at two points in time, one year apart, via individual, structured interviews. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to assess the interrelationship of the earlier factors with respect to later adolescent aggression. Interviews took place in an inner-city community, within the schools and the participants' homes. Participants included low-income, predominantly African American and Hispanic adolescents (N = 296) whose fathers abused drugs. The fathers were recruited from drug-abuse treatment programs in several U.S. cities. The outcome measure was adolescent aggressive behavior at Time 2 (T2). The findings showed that paternal drug abuse, environmental factors, and paternal child-rearing practices were mediated by the adolescent's vulnerable personality attributes. The adolescent's vulnerable personality attributes were the most proximal constructs to later adolescent aggressive behavior. Both paternal drug abuse and environmental factors were mediated by paternal child-rearing practices. The findings suggest that earlier environmental stresses, paternal drug abuse, paternal child-rearing practices, and adolescent vulnerable personality attributes are associated with later adolescent aggression.
The consumption of alcohol and the frequency of intoxication among Norwegian youth increased significantly from 1992 to 2002, and we thus asked what, if anything, can be expected to happen to rates of other problem behaviors when heavy drinking becomes more widespread? Do such aggregate level changes in alcohol use imply that individual level associations between drunkenness and behavioral deviance change as well?
School-based surveys of 16- to 19-year-old Norwegians that were carried out in 1992 (n = 4,744, response rate 97%) and 2002 (n = 5,458, response rate 92%).
Contrary to rates of drunkenness, the level of theft/pilfering declined from 1992 to 2002, while rates of aggressive behavior and school misconduct remained unchanged. We assumed that heavy-drinking adolescents were relatively less deviant with regard to non-violent problem behaviors when the youth culture was relatively 'wet' (2002) as compared to the period when it was much 'drier' (1992) and revealed that this was the case. However, the link between drunkenness and aggressive behavior was equally strong at both assessments.
Differential temporal trends in the associations between drunkenness and various problem behaviors may reflect variations with respect to the etiological significance of alcohol use on such behaviors.
Problem behavior theory predicts that norm-violating attitudes and activities reflect a syndrome. Hierarchical latent-factor models examined the integrity of this syndrome at 4 developmental stages from early adolescence to adulthood. Latent constructs of Drug Use, Academic Orientation, Social Conformity, Criminal Behavior, and Sexual Involvement were assessed up to 4 times at 4-year intervals in a community sample. Second-order constructs of General Deviance confirmed integrity of the syndrome at these life stages, although subtle changes in certain components of the construct emerged. Criminal Behavior was more determined by General Deviance in adulthood than in young adulthood, whereas Sexual Involvement became less determined by the common factor between these times. Drug Use and low Social Conformity were consistently strong indicators of General Deviance.
Data from a longitudinal study of males and females tested at ages 15, 18, and 21 years are used to study the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships among 11 problem behaviors and the stability of problem behaviors from middle adolescence to early adulthood. In addition, the author tests how well this cluster of problem behaviors at ages 15 and 18 predicts later drug problems at age 21. Although the data support the existence of a problem behavior syndrome in terms of the clustering of certain problem behaviors at various points in the life cycle, they suggest that the constellation of problems varies by gender. The data also demonstrate that the associations among problem behaviors over time are unstable. Further, the predictors of problem drug use at early periods of development are different from those at later periods and are different for males and females. Thus the focus of drug abuse prevention programs will have to vary by age and gender and programs will need to be aimed at the age and gender appropriate predictors for the target population.
Earlier bivariate findings suggested that diverse problem behaviors, including problem drinking, illicit drug use, delinquent-type behavior, and precocious sexual intercourse, may comprise a single behavioral syndrome in samples of normal adolescents. A multivariate test of this possible syndrome was carried out through a series of maximum likelihood factor analyses based on self-report data from several samples of adolescents and youth. Analyses were performed by sex on four waves of panel data from a high school cohort and a college-age cohort, using their adolescent/college-age data as well as their data from young adulthood, and on multiple random subsamples of adolescents who participated in the 1978 National Study of Adolescent Drinking (Rachal et al., 1980). Results of the analyses consistently showed that one common factor accounts for the correlations among the different problem behaviors. The findings lend support to the notion of a syndrome of problem behavior in both adolescence and young adulthood.
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137821/1/mtf-vol1_1993.pdf
Drawing on previous research completed on young adults in the general population, the authors report the results of a test of a structural equation model separating general and specific deviance components of deviant behavior on data collected in a longitudinal study of a cohort of juvenile detainees. Consistent with earlier work, the authors' findings indicate that each deviant behavior is, in part, a manifestation of a general tendency toward deviance and, in part, a unique phenomenon among the high-risk youths they studied. In addition, analysis suggests that the youths' self-report measures of deviance reflect a tendency toward self-disclosure, which accounts for part of the covariance among these measures.
The present study examined the syndrome of Jessor's adolescent problem behaviour, using data from an Ontario province-wide
school substance use survey. The study supports the premise that adolescent drinking, problem drinking, drug use, risky driving
and delinquency are not isolated behaviours but rather are interrelated with each other. Furthermore, the patterns of correlatedness
among problem behaviours are systematic and strong enough to imply that there is a syndrome of adolescent problem behaviour.
One of the few facts agreed on in criminology is the age distribution of crime. This fact has been used to criticize social theories of crime causation, to provide the foundation for other theories, to justify recent emphases on career criminals, and to support claims of superiority for longitudinal designs in criminological research. In the present paper, we argue that the age distribution of crime is sufficiently invariant over a broad range of social conditions that these uses of the age distribution are not justified by available evidence.
Because a wide variety of deviant behaviors are positively correlated with one another, some researchers conclude that all are manifestations of a single general tendency. The present analysis incorporated three waves of self-reports about heavy alcohol use, marijuana use, use of other illicit drugs, dangerous driving, and other criminal behavior for a nationally representative sample of high school seniors. A relatively stable general involvement in deviance accounted for virtually all association between different types of deviance, but the stability of each behavior could only be explained by equally important and stable specific influences. Thus, theories that treat different deviant behaviors as alternative manifestations of a single general tendency can account for some, but far from all, of the meaningful variance in these behaviors. The only significant influence of one type of deviance on another was that of marijuana use on later use of other illicit drugs. The causal model also revealed interpretable shifts in the associations among these behaviors over the four years following high school.
Each year since 1975, about 17,000 seniors have participated in a national survey conducted in some 130 high schools to assess students' changing lifestyles, values, and preferences. This publication is one in a series of annual monographs to disseminate many of the epidemiological findings from the study. It reports the results of the national survey of drug use and related attitudes and beliefs among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. Distinctions are made among important demographic subgroups in these populations based on gender, college plans, region of the country, population density, parents' education, and race and ethnicity. Following the introductory chapter, chapter 2 presents key findings. Study design is reviewed in chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 explain the prevalence and trends in drug use. Chapter 6 discusses the initiation rates by grade level. Chapter 7 explains the degree and duration of drug highs. Chapter 8 discusses attitudes about drug use, and chapter 9 reviews the social milieu. Chapter 10 sums up other findings from the study. Volume 1 was preceded by an advance summary publication of its key findings. (Contains 5 appendixes, 146 tables and 103 figures.) (JDM)
Self-reports on alcohol use collected via school-based questionnaires, telephone surveys, and household interviews are central measures in many studies in the alcohol field. The validity of such self-reports remains an issue. Use of biological pipeline procedures is one way in which the quality of self-reports might be improved. The current study tested the effectiveness of a saliva test pipeline procedure in increasing drinking disclosure rates among adolescents in the sixth and eighth grades. Two sixth-grade classes from each of 14 elementary schools (n = 828) and four eighth-grade classes from each of 8 middle schools (n = 754) were selected. Half of the classes in each school were assigned to the pipeline condition and half to the control condition. Each student in the pipeline condition was asked to provide a saliva sample via dental roll before completing a questionnaire that all students (pipeline and control) received. Pipeline students were told that “some of the saliva we collect today will be tested in a laboratory and will provide a biological measure of alcohol use.” Sixth- and eighth-grade students exposed to the alcohol procedure reported 5 to 7% higher alcohol use prevalences than students in the control group. While the pattern of improved reporting tinder the pipeline condition held across four alcohol-use measures and two grade levels, the effect was statistically significant for only one measure. The pipeline procedures used here had small effects on adolescent self-reported alcohol use.
The social psychological antecedents of entry into three sequential stages of adolescent drug use, hard liquor, marihuana, and other illicit drugs, are examined in a cohort of high school students in which the population at risk for initiation into each stage could be clearly specified. The analyses are based on a two-wave panel sample of New York State public secondary students and subsamples of matched adolescent-parent and adolescent-best schoolfriend dyads. Each of four clusters of predictor variables, parental influences, peer influences, adolescent involvement in various behaviors, and adolescent beliefs and values, and single predictors within each cluster assume differential importance for each stage of drug behavior. Prior involvement in a variety of activities, such as minor delinquency and use of cigarettes, beer, and wine are most important for hard liquor use. Adolescents' beliefs and values favorable to the use of marihuana and association with marihuana-using peers are the strongest predictors of initiation into marihuana. Poor relations with parents, feelings of depression, and exposure to drug-using peers are most important for initiation into illicit drugs other than marihuana.
Problem behavior theory predicts that norm-violating attitudes and activities reflect a syndrome. Hierarchical latent-factor models examined the integrity of this syndrome at 4 developmental stages from early adolescence to adulthood. Latent constructs of Drug Use, Academic Orientation, Social Conformity, Criminal Behavior, and Sexual Involvement were assessed up to 4 times at 4-year intervals in a community sample. Second-order constructs of General Deviance confirmed integrity of the syndrome at these life stages, although subtle changes in certain components of the construct emerged. Criminal Behavior was more determined by General Deviance in adulthood than in young adulthood, whereas Sexual Involvement became less determined by the common factor between these times. Drug Use and low Social Conformity were consistently strong indicators of General Deviance.
This paper explores alternative explanations for the recent sharp decline in cocaine use among high school seniors, using questionnaire data from annual nationwide surveys conducted from 1976 through 1988. Results show important parallels with earlier analyses of the longer-term decline in marijuana use. Although lifestyle factors (e.g., religious commitment, truancy, evenings out for fun and recreation) show strong links with use of marijuana and cocaine, these factors have not developed trends in ways that can account for the declines in use of either drug. Reported availability of either drug has not been reduced. Instead, increases in perceived risks and disapproval appear to have contributed substantially to the recent declines in use of marijuana and cocaine. The findings provide strong support for the use of realistic information about risks and consequences as an important ingredient in efforts to prevent drug use. Coupled with the findings on availability, the results emphasize the importance of efforts to reduce demand (as opposed to supply).
During the 1980s alcohol and drug education increased in Ontario schools, especially at the Grade 7 level. This article reports aggregate relationships between increased levels of exposure to classroom alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis education, and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis by students in Ontario schools. The data were derived from repeated cross-sectional probability surveys of alcohol and drug use conducted every two years since 1979. There were strong inverse associations between increases in exposure to alcohol and drug education and reported levels of use of these substances, especially for alcohol and for Grade 7 students.
Delinquency is defined as car theft, causing damage, theft < S50, theft >S50, fighting, breaking and entering or gang fights, (pres.) refers to References Explaining the recent decline in cocaine use among young adults: further evidence that perceived risks and disapproval lead to reduced drug use
- J G Bachman
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** 0.41 ±0.05 Delinquency is defined as car theft, causing damage, theft < S50, theft >S50, fighting, breaking and entering or gang fights, (pres.) refers to References BACHMAN, J. G., JOHNSTON, L. D. & O'MALLEY, P. M. (1990) Explaining the recent decline in cocaine use among young adults: further evidence that perceived risks and disapproval lead to reduced drug use, Journal of Health and Social Behavior., 31, pp. 173-184.
Smoking, Drinking, and Illicit Dnig Use Among American Secondary School Students, College Students, and Young Adults
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JOHNSTON, L. D., O'MALLEY, P. M. & BACHMAN, J. G. (1992) Smoking, Drinking, and Illicit Dnig Use Among American Secondary School Students, College Students, and Young Adults, 1975-1991 (Rockvnlle, National Institute on Drug Abuse).
A brief commentary on Akers' Delinquent Behavior, Drugs and Alcohol: what is the relationship
- Hirschi T.
The Relationship Between Delinquent Behavior and ADM Problems
- D. S. Elliott
- D. Huizinga