The spurious relationship between alcohol, caffeine, marijuana, and delinquent behavior: An analysis of the potential "causes" of delinquency
Open Access
Author:
Jackowski, Jacquelyn Ann
Area of Honors:
Criminology
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jeremy Staff, Thesis Supervisor Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
substance use delinquency Monitoring the Future
Abstract:
This thesis examines the relationship between substance use and delinquency among a nationally representative contemporary sample of 8th and 10th grade students in the United States. The data was taken from the 2012 Monitoring the Future study, which is a survey that asks students about their substance use, involvement in sports and activities, family life, delinquency, and overall the aspects that make up their lives. While there have been several studies that look at alcohol, marijuana, and caffeine and their individual effects on delinquency, this research aims to isolate the effect of each substance on delinquency while still accounting for other factors, such as family life and grade point average. All substances, forms of delinquency, and spurious factors were accounted for and transformed into unique measures in order to determine relationships and correlations. The results of this research showed that there is a positive relationship between substance use and delinquency, and that this relationship is stronger for males than it is for females.
