NCJ Number
139482
Journal
School Safety Dated: (Spring 1992) Pages: 7-10
Date Published
1992
Length
4 pages
Annotation
In an effort to obtain a clearer picture of the developmental sequence of problem behaviors in young children, the Pittsburgh Youth Study began as a longitudinal study to examine the causes and correlates of early forms of delinquency and substance use.
Abstract
In the spring of 1987 and 1988, 2,573 boys enrolled in public schools in Pittsburgh were randomly selected from the first, fourth, and seventh grades. The boys were interviewed in their homes, and primary caregivers were also asked to participate in separate interviews. The questionnaires for the seventh-graders addressed 40 types of antisocial behaviors and 16 kinds of drugs/substances. For the first- grade and fourth-grade boys, the questionnaire was slightly modified to coincide with age levels. A consistent increase in the use of each kind of substance was observed across grades. Between the first and seventh grades, smoking tobacco and the use of wine, hard liquor, and marijuana increased by at least a factor of 10. The prevalence of beer drinking multiplied by a factor of seven. Most of the salient increases occurred between grades four and seven. Surprisingly, significant increases in conduct problems and delinquent acts, such as theft and vandalism at school, were more often observed between the single-substance-use group and the multiple-substance-use group for first-grade boys than for fourth-grade boys. Substance use and conduct problems and delinquent behaviors are apparently more closely related during early childhood than in adolescence. Substance abuse education for children in elementary school may serve the two-fold purpose of preventing not only drug and alcohol use, but also of forestalling delinquent behaviors. 4 references