Substance involvement and the trajectory of criminal offending in young male.

The current study investigated the influence of substance involvement on the trajectory of delinquency. Data were from 625 Buffalo, NY males aged 16-19, interviewed three times at 18-month intervals. Hierarchical linear models were fit separately for respondents with increasing and declining delinquency. In the increasing group, aIcohol involvment was associated with a higher starting point (intercept), and alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a faster increase. In the declining group, alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a higher starting point, and frequency of drug use was associated with a slower decline. Alcohol involvement is important in the early delinquent career whereas illicit drug use delays maturing out of delinquency. In a further analysis, substance involvement variables were time-varying covariates in the within-subjects model and controls in the between-subjects model. Respondents' alcohol and other drug use varied across time in sync with their criminal offending.