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Does Substance Use Exacerbate Escalation Along Developmental Pathways of Covert and Overt Externalizing Behaviors Among Young Men?

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Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

The delinquency pathway model proposes that the majority of those who engage in serious delinquent acts have gone through a sequence of externalizing behaviors from less to more serious delinquent behaviors. This study examined whether the frequency of alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs exacerbated escalation through the covert and overt pathways.

Methods

Data came from the youngest cohort of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (N = 503). The young men were followed from mean age of 7 to mean age of 20. Sequences of offending were based on ages of onset of covert and overt delinquent behaviors. Survival analyses were conducted to examine the associations of frequency of use with risk for and timing of movement from the lowest to the highest level in each pathway.

Results

The frequency of alcohol and marijuana use was related to greater risk of moving from the lowest to the highest level in both pathways, and hard drug use vs. nonuse was associated with moving from minor aggression to violence.

Conclusions

Reducing the frequency of substance use may interrupt escalation through the covert and overt pathways for young men once they enter the first level.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Chioun Lee for her comments on a previous version of this paper.

It is with our deepest sorrow that we inform you of the passing of our co-author, Rolf Loeber, since we submitted the article.

Funding

The writing of this paper was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (DA034608). Data collection was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA411018), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH48890, MH50778, and MH078039), the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (96-MU-FX-0012) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Alcohol Studies and Department of Sociology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 607 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854-8001, USA

    Helene R. White

  2. Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Fiona N. Conway

  3. Department of Kinesiology and Health and Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Jennifer F. Buckman

  4. Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Rolf Loeber

Authors
  1. Helene R. White
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  2. Fiona N. Conway
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  3. Jennifer F. Buckman
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  4. Rolf Loeber
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helene R. White.

Ethics declarations

Caretaker consent and child assent were obtained prior to conducting the interviews until the young men turned 18. After that, consent was obtained from the men. All study procedures were approved by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Rolf Loeber Deceased.

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White, H.R., Conway, F.N., Buckman, J.F. et al. Does Substance Use Exacerbate Escalation Along Developmental Pathways of Covert and Overt Externalizing Behaviors Among Young Men?. J Dev Life Course Criminology 4, 137–147 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-017-0076-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-017-0076-3

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