Elaine Eggleston Doherty

Does heavy adolescent marijuana use lead to criminal involvement in adulthood? Evidence from a multiwave longitudinal study of urban African Americans

While marijuana use is common during adolescence, it can have adverse long-term consequences, with serious criminal involvement being one of them. In this study, we utilize longitudinal data from the Woodlawn Study of a community cohort of urban African Americans (N=702) to examine the effects of heavy adolescent marijuana use (20 or more times) on adult criminal involvement, including perpetration of drug, property and violent crime, as well as being arrested and incarcerated. Utilizing propensity score matching to take into account the shared risk factors between drug use and crime, regression analyses on the matched samples show that heavy adolescent marijuana use may lead to drug and property crime and criminal justice system interactions, but not violent crime. The significant associations of early heavy marijuana use with school dropout and the progression to cocaine and/or heroin use only partially account for these findings. Results suggest that the prevention of heavy marijuana use among adolescents could potentially reduce the perpetration of drug and property crime in adulthood, as well as the burden on the criminal justice system, but would have little effect on violent crime.

WHEN THE TIES THAT BIND UNWIND: EXAMINING THE ENDURING AND SITUATIONAL PROCESSES OF CHANGE BEHIND THE MARRIAGE EFFECT

Despite the continued growth of research demonstrating that marriage promotes desistance from crime, efforts aimed at understanding the mechanisms driving this effect are limited. Several theories propose to explain why we observe a reduction in offending after marriage including identity changes, strengthened attachments, reduced opportunities, and changes to routine activities. Although mechanisms are hard to measure, we argue that each proposed mechanism implies a specific change process, that is, whether the change that ensues after marriage is enduring (stable) or situational (temporary). Drawing on a medical model framework, we cast the role of marriage as a treatment condition and observe whether the effect of marriage is conditional on staying married or whether the effect persists when the “treatment” is taken away (i.e., divorce). We use 13 years of monthly level data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), a nationally representative sample containing close to 3,000 individuals with an arrest history, to examine changes in relationship status and arrest from adolescence into young adulthood. Estimates from multilevel within-individual models reveal greater support for situational mechanisms in that divorce is detrimental particularly for those in longer marriages; yet they also reveal important caveats that suggest a closer examination of the marriage effect. This research adds to the growing body of knowledge regarding the marriage effect by redirecting desistance research away from asking if marriage matters to asking how marriage affects desistance. A better understanding of this change process has important implications for criminal justice policy.

Marriage and Offending among a Cohort of Disadvantaged African Americans

Objectives: Drawing on Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control, this research tests the generalizability of the marriage effect on desistance from crime. Specifically, do urban African American men and women living in the United States benefit from marriage similarly to Whites? Methods: The authors use hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to analyze the relationship between marriage and official arrest counts among African American male and female first graders from Woodlawn, an inner-city community in Chicago, first assessed in 1966 and followed up at three time points (ages 16, 32, and 42). Results: The authors find strong evidence of a marriage effect for the males across crime type, with a reduction in offending between 21 percent and 36 percent when in a state of marriage. The findings for females were less consistent across crime type, a 10 percent reduction in the odds of a property arrest and a 9 percent increase in the odds of a drug arrest when in a state of marriage. Conclusions: Their findings provide evidence in favor of the generality of Sampson and Laub’s theory, at least for males. However, the authors were not able to evaluate the mechanisms of desistance and identify this as an area of future research.

Long-term patterns of drug use among an urban African-American cohort: the role of gender and family.

Cross-sectional analyses and the little existing longitudinal analyses on substance use over the life course have been integral in providing information about the epidemiology of substance use in the United States. However, it is unclear whether these estimates provide an accurate portrayal of long-term substance use patterns among African-American men and women who have grown up in an inner city environment. The current study uses longitudinal data from a community cohort of African-American inner-city males and females followed from first grade through mid-adulthood. It identifies the substance use patterns through mid-adulthood, including lifetime prevalence, age of onset and termination, and sequencing of substance classes, as well as the risk of initiation of substance use changes over the life course using survival analysis. It also investigates whether early family structure and process play a role in drug use initiation throughout the life course, and whether the relationship between family factors and drug initiation differs by gender. Overall, among the general trends of use, we find a considerable amount of abstention with over 40% of the participants never using illegal drugs by mid-adulthood, over 70% never using cocaine, and over 90% never using heroin. With respect to onset, we find a long-term influence of early family factors on substance use, particularly for females. Family discipline in childhood and family cohesion and parental rule setting during adolescence seem to be key factors in predicting later substance use for females. The implications of these findings for future research and policy are discussed.

Social Integration in Young Adulthood and the Subsequent Onset of Substance Use and Disorders among a Community Population of Urban African Americans

AIMS This paper examines the association between social integration in young adulthood and the later onset of substance use and disorders through mid-adulthood. Design Data come from a community cohort of African Americans followed longitudinally from age 6-42 years with four assessment periods. SETTING The cohort all lived in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago in 1966, an urban disadvantaged setting. PARTICIPANTS All Woodlawn first graders in 1966 were asked to participate; 13 families declined (n = 1242). MEASUREMENT Substance use was measured via interview at age 42 and includes the onset of alcohol and drug use disorders and the onset of cocaine/heroin use between ages 32 and 42 years. Social integration measures were assessed via interview at age 32 and include social roles (employee, spouse, parent), participation in religious and social organizations and a measure of overall social integration. Control variables were measured in childhood and later in the life course. FINDINGS Multivariate regression analyses suggest that unemployment, being unmarried, infrequent religious service attendance and lower overall social integration in young adulthood predict later adult-onset drug use disorders, but not alcohol use disorders once confounders are taken into consideration. Unemployment and lower overall social integration predict onset of cocaine/heroin use later in adulthood. CONCLUSIONS Results show meaningful onset of drug use and substance use disorders during mid-adulthood and that social integration in young adulthood seems to play a role in later onset of drug use and drug disorders, but not alcohol disorders.

Marriage Trajectories and Health Risk Behaviors Throughout Adulthood Among Urban African Americans

Although previous studies have identified a protective effect of marriage on risky health behaviors, gaps remain in our understanding of how marriage improves health, particularly among African Americans. This study uses longitudinal data to take selection into account and examines whether marital trajectories that incorporate timing, stability, and duration of marriage affect health risk behaviors among a community cohort of urban African Americans followed for 35 years (N = 1,049). For both men and women, we find six marital trajectories. Men and women in consistently married trajectories are less likely to smoke, drink heavily (women only), and use illegal drugs than those in unmarried or previously married trajectories. Late marrying men do not fare worse in midlife than men in earlier marrying trajectories, but late marrying women show increased risk of midlife drug use. Results suggest policies supporting marriage may have an impact on health but only if stable unions are achieved.

A Prospective Study of Childhood and Adolescent Antecedents of Homelessness among a Community Population of African Americans

Much is known about contemporaneous correlates of homelessness from studies of homeless individuals. However, few studies have prospectively examined early antecedents and prevalence of homelessness in community populations. We use data from a 35-year study of a community population of African Americans to examine relationships between homelessness and prior structural, family, school, and behavioral influences. Nearly 22% of males and 16% of females reported homelessness between ages 15 and 42, providing a rare estimate within an African American urban community population. In bivariate analyses, lower school bonds, depressed mood, violent behavior, and running away in adolescence are predictive for both males and females. Teen parenting and angry mood are unique influences for females, while for males, poor first grade classroom conduct and adolescent substance use are unique risks. In multivariate analyses, poor classroom conduct and weaker school bonds predict homelessness among males, while teen parenting does so for females. Running away before age 15 is strongly predictive of later homelessness for both males and females. These results reveal the relative influence of multiple, interrelated early risks on homelessness and confirm our hypothesis that factors linked to other poor outcomes also relate to homelessness, underscoring another benefit to early prevention efforts.

Examining the Consequences of the “Prevalent Life Events” of Arrest and Incarceration among an Urban African-American Cohort

The life course perspective has traditionally examined prevalent adult life events, such as marriage and employment, and their potential to redirect offending trajectories. However, for African-Americans, the life events of arrest and incarceration are becoming equally prevalent in young adulthood. Therefore, it is critical to understand how these “standard” criminal justice practices, which are designed to deter as well as punish, affect deviance among this population. This study evaluates the long-term consequences of criminal justice intervention on substance use and offending into midlife among an African-American community cohort using propensity score matching and multivariate regression analyses. The results largely point to a criminogenic effect of criminal justice intervention on midlife deviance with a particularly strong effect of young adult arrest on rates of violent and property arrest counts into midlife. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Taking a life course approach to studying substance use treatment among a community cohort of African American substance users

BACKGROUND Life course theory emphasizes the need to examine a wide variety of distal factors along with proximal factors, longitudinally. Yet research on who obtains substance use treatment is generally cross-sectional and limited to examining developmentally proximal factors (e.g., substance use severity) and demographic factors. METHODS To investigate treatment within a life-course framework, we studied 522 drug and/or alcohol users from a community cohort of African Americans followed prospectively from age 6. Developmentally distal factors of childhood and adolescent social behavior, family environment, academic achievement, mental health, and substance use along with the key proximal factors of substance use severity and socioeconomic status were examined using regression analyses to assess their impact on obtaining adult substance use treatment. RESULTS One-fifth of the study population obtained treatment for substance use by age 32 (20.5%). Although adult socioeconomic status was not associated with substance use treatment in adulthood in the multivariable model, the proximal factor of substance use severity was a strong predictor of obtaining substance use treatment, as expected. After including several developmentally distal factors in the model, childhood aggression also had an independent effect on adult substance use treatment, above and beyond substance use severity. CONCLUSIONS These findings emphasize the importance of using a life course framework when exploring predictors of treatment; early life characteristics are important influences beyond the more proximal factors in adulthood. Research should continue to take a life course approach to better understand pathways to substance use treatment.

The Crossover Effect: The Influence of Social Roles in an African American Cohort

Despite some stereotypes that may exist, substance use among African American adolescents is generally comparable to or somewhat less than use among White populations. However, evidence of a pattern shift emerges as they age into adulthood, when African Americans, compared to Whites, are more likely to initiate drug use and develop problem use, and are less likely to terminate their drug use (French et al. 2002). In this chapter, we evaluate the crossover effect in a cohort of African Americans studied from ages six to 42 from the Woodlawn Study (N=1242). Using data from the Woodlawn cohort and national surveys administered at times corresponding to the three Woodlawn assessments we show evidence of cross-over: lower use of drugs for African Americans during adolescence; increasing use (relative to Whites) over adulthood; and higher reported abuse in adulthood. We examined whether one reason for higher drug use among the Woodlawn cohort relates to their lower likelihood of participating in the expected central social roles of mid life, especially, marriage and employment. Woodlawn men and women had even lower participation in these roles than national African Americans. We found that patterns of cocaine use over the life course as shown in trajectory analyses were related to social role involvement in adolescence, young adulthood, and mid adulthood. Marriage and employment may have steered cohort members away from their cocaine use, or if they were not cocaine users helped to keep them from becoming cocaine users. It is consistent with the possibility that the adoption of these adult social roles is an important turning point with regard to drug use.