Lloyd D. Johnston

Routine activities and individual deviant behavior

Les AA. portent leur attention sur la theorie qui envisage la criminalite au travers des activites liees a la vie ordinaire. Ils utilisent celle-ci non pour aborder les phenomenes de victimisation mais pour etudier la deviance et les activites criminelles en tant que telles. Ils examinent, par ce biais, les delits lies a la petite delinquance. Ils presentent un certain nombre de donnees collectees aux Etats-Unis entre 1975 et 1981 aupres de jeunes âges de 18 a 26 ans. Ils sefforcent devaluer le lien entre comportement deviant et activite ordinaire

Smoking, drinking, and drug use among American high school students: correlates and trends, 1975-1979.

This paper uses findings from five nationally representative surveys of high school seniors from 1975 through 1979 to examine the correlates of licit and illicit drug use, and to consider whether recent changes in youthful drug use are linked to any changes in the correlates. Males still exceed females in use of alcohol and marijuana, but no longer in cigarette smoking. Black seniors now report less drug use than Whites. Other dimensions of family background, region, and urbanicity show only modest associations with drug use. Above average drug use occurs among those less successful in adaptation to the educational environment, as indicated by truancy and low grades; those who spend many evenings out for recreation; and those with heavy time commitments to a job and/or relatively high incomes. Drug use is below average among seniors with strong religious commitments and conservative political views. From 1975 through 1979, among seniors cigarette use peaked and subsequently declined, marijuana use rose and then leveled off, and the (still infrequent) use of cocaine rose rapidly. However, these shifts in drug use were not accompanied by substantial shifts in the above correlates of use. The findings thus suggest that the kinds of young people most at risk remain much the same, while the types and amounts of substances they use shift somewhat from year to year.

Period, age, and cohort effects on substance use among American youth, 1976-82.

Period, age, and cohort effects on substance use are differentiated for American youth 18 to 24 years old during the period from 1976 to 1982. The data are provided by the Monitoring the Future project, an ongoing study which employs a cohort-sequential design. Weighted least squares regression is used to find plausible and parsimonious models to account for the observed variation in 12 different classes of drugs, both licit and illicit. The point is made that there are no definitive ways to differentiate among the types of effects; thus, any interpretation is open to debate. Period effects involving increased use occurred for cocaine, amphetamines, and methaqualone, while decreases occurred for barbiturates, tranquilizers, and psychedelics other than LSD. Marijuana showed a curvilinear period effect, first increasing then decreasing. Effects of age were more complex. There were increases in the year after high school for daily cigarette use, but not for monthly use. Monthly and daily alcohol use increased with age. A measure of heavy drinking showed a curvilinear trend, first increasing and then decreasing. Annual use of cocaine showed an increase between the ages of 18 and 21. Annual use of narcotics other than heroin showed a linear age decrease. Clear class (or cohort) effects appeared for cigarette use, with each successive class smoking less.

Period, Age, and Cohort Effects on Substance Use among Young Americans: A Decade of Change, 1976-86.

In an earlier article in this Journal, we reported analyses that differentiated among period, age, and cohort effects on substance use among American youth 18 to 24 years old, from the high school classes of 1976 to 1982 during the period of 1976 to 1982. The present analyses extend the classes and years to 1986, and the age range to 18-28. A cohort-sequential design is employed, based on annual surveys of nationally representative samples of high school seniors, plus annual follow-up surveys of each senior class. Twelve different classes of drugs, both licit and illicit, are examined. Several different types of period, age, and cohort effects over the last decade are identified. Alcohol use (monthly and occasions of heavy use), and the use of marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, methaqualone, barbiturates, LSD, psychedelics other than LSD, and tranquilizers all showed period effects. Occasions of heavy drinking, cigarette smoking, monthly and daily use of alcohol, and annual prevalence of cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates, LSD, and narcotics other than heroin showed age effects. Class effects were seen for cigarette smoking and daily marijuana use.

Drinking and driving among US high school seniors, 1984-1997.

OBJECTIVESnThis article reports the prevalence of, and trends in, driving after drinking and riding in a car with a driver who has been drinking among American high school seniors, based on data from more than a decade (1984-1997) of annual national surveys.nnnMETHODSnLogistic regressions were used to assess the effects of demographic factors (gender, region of country, population density, parental education, and race/ethnicity) and selected lifestyle factors (religious commitment, high school grades, truancy, illicit drug use, evenings out per week, and miles driven per week).nnnRESULTSnRates of adolescent driving after drinking and riding with a driver who had been drinking declined significantly from the mid-1980s to the early or mid-1990s, but the declines have not continued in recent years. Rates of driving or riding after drinking were higher among high school seniors who are male. White, living in the western and northeastern regions of the United States, and living in rural areas. Truancy, number of evenings out, and illicit drug use all related significantly positively with the dependent variables, whereas grade point average and religious commitment had a negative relationship. Miles driven per week related positively to driving after drinking.

Changing patterns of drug use among US military recruits before and after enlistment.

OBJECTIVESnThe US armed forces adopted zero tolerance policies concerning illicit drug use in 1980 and later developed policies to discourage tobacco and alcohol abuse. This article examines drug use among young active-duty recruits both before and after enlistment, compared with nonmilitary age-mates, and documents historical shifts in such drug use across 2 decades.nnnMETHODSnAnalyses employed longitudinal panel data from 20 nationally representative samples of high school seniors (cohorts of 1976-1995), each surveyed just before graduation and again within 2 years. Separate analyses for men (n = 12,082) and women (n = 15,345) contrasted those who entered military service, college, and civilian employment.nnnRESULTSnIllicit drug use declined more among young military recruits than among their civilian counterparts. Analyses of male recruits at multiple time periods showed (1) declines in the prevalence of marijuana use and cocaine use after the initiation of routine military drug testing and (2) lower proportions of smokers of half a pack or more of cigarettes per day who entered service after the initiation of tobacco bans during basic training.nnnCONCLUSIONSnRecent military drug policies appear to deter illicit drug use among enlistees and discourage some smokers from enlisting.