MARIJUANA USE AND DELINQUENCY: A TEST OF THE INDEPENDENT CAUSE HYPOTHESIS (FROM DRUGS AND CRIME, P 27- 52, 1993, RICHARD DEMBO, ED. - SEE NCJ-142736)

• NCJ Number: 142738
• Author(s): H R White
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 26 pages
• Sale Source: University Press of America
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Adolescents who were part of a prospective longitudinal study in New Jersey were studied to test an independent cause hypothesis, according to which the causes of marijuana use and juvenile delinquency are independent to some degree.

Abstract

The 892 participants were ages 12 and 15 at the time of their initial interviews in 1979-81 and were 15 and 18 when interviewed 3 years later. They were grouped according to their levels of marijuana use and delinquency over time. Results supported the independent cause hypothesis. The specific mode of friends' deviance clearly differentiated between deviants who became more involved in marijuana use and those who became more involved in delinquency. However, while several personality variables reliably distinguished deviants from nondeviants, they did not differentiate between marijuana users and juvenile delinquents. Tables and 63 references (Author abstract modified)