title: Substance involvement and the trajectory of criminal offending in young male.
abstract: The current study investigated the influence of substance involvement on the trajectory of delinquency. Data were from 625 Buffalo, NY males aged 16-19, interviewed three times at 18-month intervals. Hierarchical linear models were fit separately for respondents with increasing and declining delinquency. In the increasing group, aIcohol involvment was associated with a higher starting point (intercept), and alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a faster increase. In the declining group, alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a higher starting point, and frequency of drug use was associated with a slower decline. Alcohol involvement is important in the early delinquent career whereas illicit drug use delays maturing out of delinquency. In a further analysis, substance involvement variables were time-varying covariates in the within-subjects model and controls in the between-subjects model. Respondents' alcohol and other drug use varied across time in sync with their criminal offending.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute on Addictions, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA. welte@ria.buffalo.edu
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Welte
authors.forename: Grace M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Joseph H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Wieczorek
authors.forename: Lening
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*