The Association Between Admiration of Antisocial Peers and Past 30-Day Opioid Misuse Among Justice-Involved Children

Abstract

Aim: Prevention of illicit or nonmedical opioid use, called opioid misuse (OM) is a key public health concern that requires research on the factors that influence OM initiation among high-risk populations. Justice-involved children (JIC) have more risk factors and fewer resources. Antisocial peers have been linked to adolescent substance abuse and delinquency. However, the association between the admiration of antisocial peers and OM among JIC has not yet been studied. This study hypothesizes that admiration of antisocial peers will be associated with a higher likelihood of OM among Florida JIC.

Methods: Cross-sectional data on 79,960 JIC from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FLDJJ) were examined. To test the hypothesis, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed. The multivariate models controlled for gender, race, age in 2007, family income, history of mental health, history of depression, and optimism.

Results: Nearly 2.7% of the sample met the criteria for past 30-day OM, and over 75% of those current users admired or somewhat admired their antisocial peers. Compared to JIC who did not admire their antisocial peers, those who had some admiration of antisocial peers were 2.39 times more likely to misuse opioids in the past 30-days and those who admired their antisocial peers were 4.40 times more likely to meet the criteria for past 30-day OM.

Conclusions: Cultivating positive peer interactions and providing positive peer role models may help to reduce illicit opioid use among JIC.

Keywords:

• antisocial peers
• illicit opioid use
• justice-involved children
• juvenile justice
• peer pressure

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the NIDA T32 training grant at the UF Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health from the National Institutes of Health under award number T32DA035167 (Dr. Linda B. Cottler PI).