Developmental associations between substance use and violence

This study examined the developmental associations between substance use an d violence. Wr examined the trends in each behavior throughout adolescence, how the behaviors covaried over time, and the symmetry of associations tak ing into account frequency and severity of each behavior. We also examined whether changes in one behavior affected changes in the other behavior over time. Six years of annual data were analyzed for 506 boys who were in the seventh grade at the first assessment. Concurrent associations between freq uency of substance use and violence were relatively strong throughout adole scence and were somewhat stronger for marijuana than alcohol, especially in early adolescence. Type or severity of violence was not related to concurr ent alcohol or marijuana frequency, but severity of drug use was related to concurrent violence frequency. Depending, to some degree, on the age of th e subjects, the longitudinal relationships between substance use and violen ce were reciprocal during adolescence and slightly stronger for alcohol and violence than for marijuana and violence. Further, increases in alcohol us e were related to increases in violence; however, when early alcohol use wa s controlled, increases in marijuana use were not related to increases in v iolence. Only in early adolescence; was the longitudinal relationship betwe en marijuana use and later violence especially strong. The strength of the longitudinal associations between violence and substance use did nor change when common risk factors for violence and substance use were controlled. O verall, the data lend more support for a reciprocal than for a unidirection al association between substance use and violence. Prevention efforts shoul d be directed at aggressive males who are multiple-substance users in early adolescence.