Developmental Perspectives on Marijuana Use and Crime

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This panel examines the association between marijuana use and criminal offending within a developmental perspective. All three presentations use longitudinal data from childhood/adolescence into young adulthood to examine the associations between patterns of marijuana use (MU) and criminal offending over time. Dustin Pardini identifies trajectories of MU from adolescence into young adulthood in a sample of Black and White young men from the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS) younger cohort. He then examines childhood risk factors as predictors of these different trajectory classes and whether there are race differences in the relationship between risk factors and trajectory group membership. Helene White uses data from the PYS older cohort to examine race differences in the effects of different MU trajectories from ages 13 to 25 on criminal outcomes between ages 26 and 35. Deborah Capaldi uses an at-risk sample of men to examine whether differential patterns of MU between ages 20 to 30 predict antisocial behavior and associations with antisocial peers at age 36. She also examines whether a father’s MU trajectory is related to externalizing behaviors in his offspring. David Hawkins, the discussant, ties the findings from these three longitudinal studies together within a developmental perspective.

Sub Unit

• Area I. Causes of Crime and Criminal Behavior / 12. Developmental, Integrated and Life Course Perspectives

Individual Presentations

• Childhood Precursors of Marijuana Use Trajectories From Adolescence to Young Adulthood Among Black and White Males - Dustin Pardini, University of Pittsburgh; Helene R. White, Rutgers University

• Trajectories of Marijuana Use From Adolescence Through Emerging Adulthood as Predictors of Criminal Behavior Among Black and White Young Adult Men - Helene R. White, Rutgers University; Dustin Pardini, University of Pittsburgh

• Marijuana Use in Early Adulthood in Men: Effects on Antisocial Behavior, Deviant Associations, and Offspring - Deborah M. Capaldi, Oregon Social Learning Center; Isaac J. Washburn, Oklahoma State University

Chair

• Helene R. White, Rutgers University

Discussant

• J. David Hawkins, University of Washington