Juveniles in secure confinement allegedly suffer from more mental health problems than their peers. This may reflect background and behavioral characteristics commonly found in clients of both mental health and juvenile justice systems. Another explanation is that mental disorders increase the risk of arrest. These interpretations were tested on a sample of Pittsburgh boys (N=736). Findings indicate that arrested youth exhibit more attention deficit hyperactivity (ADH) problems, Oppositional Defiant (OD) problems, and non-delinquent externalizing symptoms prior to their first arrests compared to their never-arrested peers. However, arrested and non-arrested youth score similarly on prior affective and anxiety problems and internalizing symptoms. Net of delinquency, substance use, and other selection factors, internalizing problems lower the risk of subsequent arrest, while OD problems and non-delinquent externalizing symptoms increase the risk of arrest. ADH problems have no effect on arrest net of delinquency and substance use. These findings lend only partial support to the criminalization hypothesis. Whereas some mental health symptoms increase the risk of arrest, others elicit more cautious or compassionate official responses.

The authors examined distal predictors of perpetration and victimization of intimate partner violence (IPV) among 725 young adult men and women using prospective data. Earlier problem drinking and negative affect were common predictors of perpetration for both genders. Lower education predicted female perpetration; parental fighting predicted male perpetration. No common predictors of victimization were found for men and women. Lower education, problem drinking, and childhood parental beating predicted female victimization. None of the models explained a large amount of the variance in IPV. More longitudinal research is needed on gender differences in the explanations for and consequences of IPV.

The widespread belief that illicit drugs are closely associated with crime has contributed to America's "War on Drugs" and attendant increases in arrests, convictions, and prison populations. However, the links between alcohol and crime have received less attention from policy makers and the public despite consistent evidence that alcohol is more likely than other drugs to be associated with violence. This study explores the relationship between alcohol and cocaine use and crime from 1989-1998, based on findings from the Drug Use Forecasting/Arrestee Drug and Alcohol Monitoring Program and the Uniform Crime Reports Program. We examine correlations among cocaine use, alcohol use, property crime, and violent crime at the city level to determine if there is a consistent pattern across cities over time. The analyses show a wide variation across cities in the links between both alcohol and cocaine use and violent and property crime rates over the 10-year period. However, the association between the annual rates of alcohol use and violent crime is stronger than that of alcohol use and property crime. These associations for alcohol remain in multivariate analyses, including statistical controls for temporal autocorrelation, SES, and heroin use. Cocaine use, in contrast, is not closely associated with either property or violent crime rates in the multivariate analyses. The findings suggest that to reduce violent crime rates, policy makers need to focus on addressing the contribution of alcohol. Furthermore, given the variation found across sites, efforts to reduce the drug/alcohol-crime links need to be tailored to local patterns and problems.

This study explored the longitudinal associations of alcohol and marijuana use and violence over ages 11-20 in the youngest sample of males from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. The authors examined trends in alcohol and marijuana use and violence, how they covaried both concurrently and over time, and whether frequent substance use predicted violence and vice versa in multivariate models controlling for common risk factors. The analyses focused on frequent alcohol or marijuana users, those who scored in the highest 25% of frequency. Throughout adolescence, substance use was more prevalent than violence. Most substance users did not engage in violence, and the proportion of substance users who engaged in violence was smaller than the proportion of violent offenders who were also substance users.

BACKGROUND: Abuse and neglect have been shown to influence the mental and physical health of children; however, few studies have examined whether childhood victimization leads to an increased risk of early death. PURPOSE: This paper compares mortality data and examines cause of death for a sample of 908 abused and/or neglected individuals and 667 matched controls who were followed up into young adulthood. METHODS: Using data from a prospective cohort design study, a large group of children with substantiated cases of abuse (physical and sexual) and/or neglect approximately 25 years ago were matched with a control group of children and both groups were followed up into adulthood. The National Death Index was searched twice and official death certificates were collected for most individuals who had died. RESULTS: Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in rates of mortality for the two groups (abuse and neglect = 3.5%, controls = 3.0%). Furthermore, victims of child abuse and neglect were not more likely to experience a violent death. CONCLUSIONS: Our results do not provide support for a heightened rate of early death in abused and neglected children followed up into young adulthood. Limitations of the study are discussed as well as potential reasons for these unexpected findings.

This study investigates whether male and female abused and neglected children report higher levels of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration in young adulthood than a matched control group. In addition, it seeks to determine whether this association is mediated by early aggressive behavior, adult antisocial personality disorder, hostility, and problem drinking. The sample comprised individuals with official records of child abuse and/or neglect prior to age 12, and matched controls who were followed up and interviewed at approximately age 29. Those who had ever been married or cohabited (N = 961) reported on lifetime perpetration of IPV. For the total sample, abused and neglected children reported significantly higher rates of ever hitting or throwing things at a partner, ever hitting or throwing first, and ever doing so more than once. Both male and female abused and neglected children reported significantly higher rates of ever hitting or throwing things at a partner than controls. Antisocial personality disorder mediated the effects of abuse/neglect on IPV for both genders; hostility and alcohol problems, for abused and neglected females.