Substance Use-Induced Diminution of Violence: A Countervailing Effect in Longitudinal Perspective

• NCJ Number: 188142
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 39 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2001 Pages: 205-224
• Author(s): Howard B. Kaplan; Glen C. Tolle Jr.; Takuji Yoshida
• Editor(s): Robert J. Bursik Jr.
• Date Published: February 2001
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 DA 02497; R01 DA 10016
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reviews the highly researched positive relationship between substance use and violence and addresses substance use as having an inverse effect to later violence.

Abstract

Although literature supports a positive association between substance use and violence, scattered empirical and theoretical research suggests a basis for predicting an inverse relationship to later violence. It was hypothesized that distressful emotions associated with violent urges motivated substance use and substance use functions to reduce distress inducing violent urges. Panel data (n = 2,222) from subjects tested during early adolescence and three years later were used to estimate structural equation models that specified within-wave relationships between substance use and violence constructs, stability of these constructs over time, and lagged effects of each construct on the other. Study findings were compatible with the hypotheses that subjects distress associated with aggressive impulses motivated drug use, and drug use in turn mitigated aggressive impulses. In addition, the study recognized that alternative explanations, such as selection into different kinds of networks or maturing-out phenomena maybe viable. The credibility of the hypotheses rests on the results of pursuing research. References