Effects of Time in Drug Abuse Treatment and Employment on Posttreatment Drug Use and Criminal Activity

• NCJ Number: 164647
• Journal: American Journal of Drug Alcohol Abuse Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (1993) Pages: 19-33
• Author(s): M T French; G A Zarkin; R L Hubbard; J V Rachal
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01-DA05599-01
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

Longitudinal data from the Treatment Outcome Prospective Study, a study of 11,000 drug abusers who entered treatment in 1979, 1980, and 1981, were used to estimate simultaneous effects of time in treatment and employment outcomes (weeks worked and total earnings) on posttreatment drug use and criminal activity.

Abstract

Drug use and criminal activity variables included four indexes measuring the severity of drug use, drug-related problems, predatory illegal acts, and overall criminal behavior. Time in treatment had a negative and statistically significant impact on these outcome variables for every modality, with residential clients experiencing the largest relative impact. The time in treatment effect was robust even when employment outcomes were modeled jointly with drug use and criminal activity outcomes. Findings highlight the importance of length of stay in treatment in the recovery and rehabilitation of drug abusers. 25 references and 4 tables