Citation
Lim, June (2015). A gender stratified analysis of adolescent substance use on violence trajectories.
CPDD 77th Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ: Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Abstract
Aims: This study examines the effect of substance use in adolescence on longitudinal patterns of violence from adolescence through adulthood. It considers how this process differs by gender. Methods: Using data from Waves 1-4 of the Add Health study, group trajectory analyses were conducted to identify violence trajectories separately for males (n=5,077) and females (n=6,086). These trajectory groups were then used as outcome variables in gender stratified multinomial logistic regression models to determine whether and the extent to which adolescent (Wave 1) substance use affects the probability of membership in these trajectory groups. Adolescent substance use measures were: regularly drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and smoking cigarettes. Results: Four trajectories were identified for males and females: early desister, late desister, chronic perpetrator, and adult escalator. Although the names of the trajectories are the same, the shapes and distributions differ by gender. The early desister group for each gender was the reference group in the respective stratified analyses because it is the largest and least violent one. Gender differences in the relationship between substance use and violence trajectories were found. Drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, and smoking cigarettes increased the risk of membership in the female late desister than the early desister group (p<.05), however only drinking and smoking marijuana increased this risk in the male late desister group (p<.05). Similarly, all three behaviors increased the risk of being in the male chronic perpetrator group than the early desister group (p<.05) whereas smoking marijuana was not significant in the respective female group. None of the behaviors increased the risk of being in the male adult escalator group whereas all three were significant in the female adult escalator group (p<.05). Conclusions: Adolescent substance use is associated with higher adolescent violence, adult onset violence, and persistent violence from adolescence into adulthood. The effects of the specific substances on violent patterns vary for males and females.
URL
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871615007267Reference Type
Conference proceeding
Book Title
CPDD 77th Annual Meeting
Author(s)
Lim, June
Year Published
2015
Volume Number
156
Pages
e129
Publisher
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
City of Publication
Phoenix, AZ
DOI
10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.07.355
Reference ID
8977
