Longitudinal Associations Between Substance Use and Violence in Adolescence Through Adulthood.

Substance use and violence are interrelated behaviors during adolescence and early adulthood. Using National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data, this study examined the longitudinal relationships between (a) alcohol and violence perpetration, (b) marijuana and perpetration, (c) alcohol and victimization, and (d) marijuana and victimization. Cross-lagged structural equation models showed that longitudinal patterns of violence and substance use vary somewhat and that the ways preceding stages of violence and substance use are associated with subsequent violence, and substance use differ by violence, substance type, and transitional stage. Our findings call for primary and secondary prevention strategies targeting early adulthood.