Not Just for Young'uns: Illicit Substance Use Among the Middle Aged

• In Event: Substance Use in the Contemporary U.S.: Antecedents and Consequences Contextualized

Abstract

Although most people “age out” of illicit substance use and crime as they progress into and through adulthood, the influence of core criminological concepts on deviance in middle age remains a relative mystery. Cast against the aging nature of the U.S. population over the past few decades, combined with emergent research noting higher rates of substance use among “baby boomers” than prior generations, this gap in knowledge is startling. Invoking differential coercion and social support (DCSS), this study uses multiple waves of data from the Mid-Life in the United States (MIDUS, mean age at wave one = ~45 years) dataset to explore how family, peer, and spousal support and conflict each, in turn, relate to illicit substance use. Though overall rates of illicit substance use were generally low, initial analyses reveal that variations in levels of social support and conflict were significantly related to disparate levels of substance use. However, the size and effect of support on conflict on substance use dependent greatly upon the source (e.g., family, spousal or peer).

Authors

• Brooke Wollett, Bowling Green State University

• Leanne Confer, Georgia Southern University

• Thomas Mowen, Bowling Green State University