Drug Use-Delinquency Connection in Adolescence (From Drugs, Crime and the Criminal Justice System, P 215-256, 1990, Ralph Weisheit, ed., -- See NCJ-123316)

• NCJ Number: 123325
• Author(s): H R White
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 42 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA-03395; AA-05823
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A literature review is provided on the drug-crime (delinquency) nexus among adolescents.

Abstract

Findings in these studies are sometimes contradictory, but this may be due to the differences in measures and in samples. The following convergent views emerge from the literature: (1) In adolescence, general forms of drug use and delinquency are not causally related, but are spuriously related because they are both types of deviant activity in which adolescents engage; (2) Adolescents are heterogeneous in terms of their levels of substance use and delinquency and the co-occurrence of both behaviors; (3) The majority of adolescents have no or only minor delinquency involvement regardless of the extent of their substance use; and, (4) Peer group influences are the best predictors of delinquency and drug use. There are several areas that have not been thoroughly addressed when exploring the drug-delinquency connection. These include differential opportunity, reinforcements derived from behaviors, nonsocial reinforcers, and the motivations for and the expectations of delinquent behavior. 7 notes, 126 references.