Advisor

Melissa Thompson

Date of Award

Summer 8-29-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Sociology

Department

Sociology

Physical Description

1 online resource (iii, 89 pages)

Subjects

Drug abuse and crime -- United States -- Longitudinal studies, Teenagers -- Drug use -- United States -- Longitudinal studies, Criminal behavior -- Longitudinal studies

DOI

10.15760/etd.1123

Abstract

The current research analyzed the relationship between methamphetamine use, cocaine use and marijuana use within the last 12 months and crime committed within the last 12 months. Crime is defined as drug sales, property and violent crime. The research design is a quantitative approach which uses secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to provide evidence toward the research question; does illegal drug use increase the risk of committing a crime?The public access, 2008 Wave III data results of this nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in the US in the 1994-95 school year was used for analysis. Methamphetamine use was associated with an increased risk of committing all crime, only until cocaine use was controlled for. Once cocaine use was controlled for, methamphetamine use became non-significant. Cocaine use and marijuana use were significant and associated with an increased use of committing a crime.

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/10000

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