Drug Use-Violent Delinquency Link Among Adolescent Mexican-Americans (From Drugs and Violence: Causes, Correlates, and Consequences, P 136-159, 1990, Mario De La Rosa, Elizabeth Y Lambert, Bernard Gropper, eds. -- See NCJ-128781)

• NCJ Number: 128788
• Author(s): W D Watts; L S Wright
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services; Superintendent of Documents
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Information from 764 high school students and 165 youths confined to a maximum security reformatory in Texas formed the basis of a correlation analysis that found that illegal drug use was most closely related to violent delinquency among Mexican-American youth.

Abstract

The high school students included 400 Mexican-Americans, of which 173 were males, while the inmate sample included 46 Mexican-Americans. The youths completed a closed-ended questionnaire in the spring of 1986. Results showed that illegal drug use was the most important factor in juvenile delinquency in the Mexican-American youth followed by friends' drug and tobacco use, lack of parental supervision, and family drug use. The results suggest that crucial factors contributing to both drug use and violent behavior among some youth are familial fragmentation between parents and youth and stress related to acculturation. Findings also indicate the need for training and support for parents of preschool and high-risk school-age children and assistance for children in peer group integration. Tables and 41 references