Substance Use and Delinquency During Adolescence: A Prospective Look at an At-Risk Sample

Abstract

This paper focuses on the relationship between adolescent substance use and delinquent behavior in a sample of homeless young people. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that delinquency and substance use are best described as discrete factors, and competing theoretical models of the longitudinal association between these two factors were examined using structural equations modeling techniques. The results suggest that delinquent behavior is associated with changes in alcohol, marijuana, and drug use across time. This effect was statistically significant over relatively brief lags in time of six months or less. Combined with previous results, these findings challenge the utility of single-factor explanations of adolescent deviance for at-risk populations and suggest that the relationship between substance use and externalizing across time may be more dynamic than previously thought. Implications for intervention are also discussed.

• Adolescents
• Delinquency
• Co-morbidity
• Longitudinal

Notes

^aBoth the Youth Self-Report form of the Child Behavior Checklist and the Problem Behavior Scale included items that directly assessed involvement with drugs and alcohol. In order to minimize counfounds with measures of substance use these overlapping items were removed prior to analysis. An item, which read “I use alcohol or drugs other than for medical purposes,” was excluded from the CBCL Delinquent Behavior subscale and, due to a technical error, one CBCL item measuring frequency of swearing was omitted from the questionnaire. Three items were excluded from the Problem Behavior Scale including “How often do you sell drugs?”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew J. Paradise

Matthew Paradise, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and also serves on the faculty of the Center for Developmental Science. He received his undergraduate degree in Psychology with Honors from Stanford University and completed his Ph.D. in Child Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington. Dr. Paradise's research interests are focused broadly on adolescents and young adults at-risk for psychopathology as well as more specifically on the connection between mental health and substance use across time. He is also concerned with the roles of family and community in the genesis of maladaptive behavior and with community-based strategies for intervention.

Ana Mari Cauce

Ana Mari Cauce, Ph.D., graduated from the University of Miami, earning degrees in English Literature and in Psychology in 1977, before going on to Yale University, where she earned her doctoral degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Child Clinical and Community Psychology. She is presently the Earl R. Carlson Professor in the Department of Psychology and has a joint appointment in the Department of American Ethnic Studies. Cauce is also Director of the University of Washington Honors Program. Since she began her graduate work, Dr. Cauce has been particularly interested in normative and non-normative development in ethnic minority youth and in at-risk youth more generally. She has been recipient of grants from the W. T. Grant Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute of Alcoholism, and Alcohol Abuse. Her awards include Recognition from the American Psychological Association for Excellence in Research on Minority Issues and the University of Washington's Distinguished Teaching Award.