Marijuana Use in Early Adulthood in Men: Effects on Antisocial Behavior, Deviant Associations, and Offspring

• In Event: Developmental Perspectives on Marijuana Use and Crime

Abstract

Whereas connections have been found with marijuana use both for associating with antisocial peers and antisocial behavior, little work has looked at whether long-term use of marijuana predicts these behaviors in adulthood, controlling for earlier levels. Furthermore, it is not known whether long-term marijuana use is predictive of antisocial or externalizing behaviors in offspring. In this study, using data from 200 men from at-risk backgrounds who were interviewed annually, heterogeneity in marijuana use from ages 20 to 30 years was modeled, and predictions to antisocial behavior and associations with antisocial peers at age 36 years (controlling for adolescent levels) were examined. Three patterns of marijuana use in the 20s were modeled (little/no use, decreasing use, chronic use), which were associated with diagnoses of marijuana disorders. Chronic use was predictive of antisocial behavior (including crime) and deviant associations at age 36 years. Overall, the results indicated more chronic use of marijuana (27% of the men) and deviant outcomes of use than might have been expected. Prediction from trajectory membership probability for the men who were fathers to externalizing behaviors across childhood in their children (measured on five occasions from ages 2 to 11-12 years) will also be tested and presented.

Authors

• Deborah M. Capaldi, Oregon Social Learning Center

• Isaac J. Washburn, Oklahoma State University