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Juvenile Offenders’ Alcohol and Marijuana Trajectories: Risk and Protective Factor Effects in the Context of Time in a Supervised Facility

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Abstract

The current study modeled trajectories of substance use from ages 15 to 20 among 1,095 male serious juvenile offenders (M age = 16.54; 42% African-American, 34% Latino, 20% European-American, and 4% other ethnic/racial backgrounds) and prospectively predicted trajectories from risk and protective factors before and after controlling for time spent in a supervised setting. Results indicated that supervised time suppressed age-related growth in substance use. Trajectories of offenders with no supervised time and low levels of supervised time increased in substance use across age, whereas offenders with high levels of supervised time showed no growth. Almost all risk and protective factors had effects on initial substance use but only adolescent history of substance use, impulse control, and psychosocial maturity had an effect on change in substance use over time. Findings highlight the importance of formal sanctions and interventions superimposed on normal developmental processes in understanding trajectories of substance use among serious juvenile offenders.

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Notes

  1. Moderating effects of race/ethnicity on PST effects on substance trajectories were explored, and results indicated that PST effects on substance use trajectories did not vary across race and ethnic groups. Thus, race/ethnicity was dropped from all models as a covariate.

  2. Model comparisons in this study were limited to predictor effects on intercept and slope. When an omnibus multiple group test showed that predictor effects on intercept and/or slope differed significantly between PST groups, intercept and/or slope mean and variances were released simultaneously. Residual covariances and predictor means were modeled as unconstrained parameters when comparing predictor effects on intercept and/or slope.

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Acknowledgements

Preparation of this manuscript was supported by an NIMH Training Grant (T32 MH 018387). The project described was supported by funds from the following: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Institute of Justice, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, William Penn Foundation, Center for Disease Control, National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA019697), Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and the Arizona Governor’s Justice Commission. We are grateful for their support. The content of this paper, however, is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of these agencies.

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Correspondence to Anne M. Mauricio.

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Mauricio, A.M., Little, M., Chassin, L. et al. Juvenile Offenders’ Alcohol and Marijuana Trajectories: Risk and Protective Factor Effects in the Context of Time in a Supervised Facility. J Youth Adolescence 38, 440–453 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9324-5

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