Validity of Juvenile Arrestees' Drug Use Reporting: A Gender Comparison

• NCJ Number: 186753
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2000 Pages: 419-432
• Author(s): Julia Yun Soo Kim M.A.; Michael Fendrich Ph.D.; Joseph S. Wislar M.S.
• Editor(s): Mercer L. Sullivan
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 14 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01DA09286
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Portions of article presented at the meeting of the American Society of Criminology, 1998, Washington, D.C.

Annotation

This exploratory study examined gender differences in the validity of drug use reporting among juvenile arrestees using a gender-matched sample of 6,377 juveniles drawn from the Drug Use Forecasting Program between 1992 and 1996.

Abstract

Self-reported marijuana and crack and/or cocaine use was compared to urinalysis results to test gender differences in the accuracy of disclosure. Among urine positives, girls were more willing than boys to disclose past month and lifetime marijuana use. Gender was not a significant main effect for cocaine use reporting but interacted with race/ethnicity and family structure in predicting valid disclosure. Hispanic girls were significantly more likely than Hispanic boys to under-report recent cocaine use. Among arrestees from homes with one or no parents, girls were significantly more likely than boys to disclose recent cocaine use. The authors conclude that the evaluation of gender differences in juvenile drug use depends on the statistics employed for assessing validity and that the effect of gender on drug use reporting is correlated with other demographic characteristics. 22 references, 1 note, and 5 tables