Assessing the Role of Context on the Relationship Between Adolescent Marijuana Use and Property Crimes in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Background: A limited amount of research has been conducted on the association between marijuana use and adolescent crime in developing countries such as Mexico, where crime rates are high and marijuana use is increasing. Objectives: To examine the association between the frequency of marijuana use and the likelihood of committing of a property crime, and to identify contextual factors explaining individual differences in the likelihood of committing a property crime. Methods: The contribution of marijuana use to property crimes was examined based on two nationwide probabilistic surveys of public high school students, using a multilevel mixed effects logistic regression model. Results: Marijuana use significantly increased the odds of committing a property crime. Differences between schools were observed in the random effects of marijuana use, suggesting that the likelihood of committing a property crime was differentially affected by contextual factors. In addition, students who were victims of bullying by peers and who had parents that abused alcohol had higher odds of committing a property crime. Perceived disorder in students' schools and neighborhoods also increased students' odds of reporting that they had committed a property crime. Conclusions: The importance of the effect of school context on the relationship between marijuana use and the commission of a property crime among Mexican public high school students seemed to increase over time. However, these results may also be due to changes in sampling designs over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Crime
• marijuana
• adolescent
• family
• school
• community

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Notes

1 For instance, Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon (Rosenberg, 2010).

2 In Spanish: Encuesta Nacional sobre Exclusión, Intolerancia y Violencia en Escuelas de Educación Media Superior.

3 The survey distinguished in two different questions between thefts that were below or above 1,000 pesos in value; i.e., USD80 approximately.

4 Among other substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, etc.

5 This was correctly pointed out by one of the reviewers.