Criminal Careers, Alcohol and Drug Use - A Longitudinal Study

• NCJ Number: 100865
• Author(s): P Ladouceur
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 251 pages
• Grant Number(s): 83-IJ-CX-0032
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Publication Format: Dissertation/Thesis
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: University of Oregon - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This study examined the relationship between criminal careers and patterns of alcohol use during adolescent, early adult, and middle adult years using longitudinal data for a cohort of 1,227 young men attending an Oregon high school between 1964 and 1967.

Abstract

The analyses are based on data for 302 of these subjects who accumulated a juvenile delinquency record. Of these, 56 percent also committed at least one adult crime, and 95 subjects had committed 5 or more offenses by the age of 30. Results indicate that in adolescence, commitment to school, positive and negative peer associations, family support, and academic achievement all related significantly to both alcohol use and chronic and serious juvenile offending. However, as the subjects matured, these variables decreased in their ability to account for criminal involvement or alcohol use patterns. Crime prevalence in the cohort increased during early adolescence, peaked at age 17, dropped sharply until the early 20's, and declined slowly thereafter. Drinking and heavy drinking increased during adolescence, peaked in the early 20's, and declined slightly thereafter. Criminal involvement in the adult years was related to marriage, occupation, income, and seriousness of previous juvenile offending. Finally, for this cohort at age 31, occupation was the only variable significantly related to alcohol use patterns. Appendixes and approximately 180 references.