Variation in the Drug-Crime Relationship Across Rural-Urban Contexts

• In Event: Crime, alcohol, and other drugs

Abstract

In the past several decades, a significant amount of research has examined the relationship between substance or drug use and crime. Empirically, there appears to be a positive relationship between these phenomena, but the reasons for this are unclear. While scholars often focus on how individual characteristics may influence this relationship, there is emerging evidence that social context may matter as well. For example, the drug-crime relationship may not manifest in the same way or be as strong in some contexts given variables such as social norms and values, opportunity structures, and informal social controls. One such context that should be considered is rural areas. In these spaces in the U.S., despite having a similar incidence of substance use to urban areas, other types of crime are comparatively low. Furthermore, patterns of substance use and crime diverge across these contexts in a variety of ways. It may be that different features of these areas, including environmental characteristics and social processes, help explain this patterning.

Using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2019), the current study examined whether the relationship between substance use and delinquency is moderated by rural contexts. Differing levels of informal social controls in rural areas are proposed as a possible mechanism in this relationship. Findings suggest mixed support for the moderation of rural context. While those living in nonmetropolitan areas appear to have a weaker association between substance use and delinquency than their metropolitan counterparts, data and measurement issues reduce confidence in this finding. In contrast, those with higher levels of parental and school attachment exhibit a stronger relationship between substance use and delinquency. Finally, accounting for how rural context and informal social controls both may change the strength of the substance-delinquency relationship does not yield any substantially different results.

Author

• Jordan M Pierce, University of Maryland, College Park