Drug Use and Delinquency: Causes of Dropping Out of High School

220 Pages·2011·0.637 MB·English

by  Joseph M. Gasper

Criminal Justice
Recent Scholarship

Edited by
Marilyn McShane and Frank P. Williams III

A Series from LFB Scholarly

Drug Use and Delinquency
Causes of Dropping Out of High School?

Joseph M. Gasper

LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC
El Paso 2012
Copyright © 2012 by LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gasper, Joseph M., 1980-
Drug use and delinquency : causes of dropping out of high school? /
Joseph M. Gasper.
p. cm. -- (Criminal justice: recent scholarship)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59332-491-9 (hbk. : alk. paper)
1. High school dropouts--Social conditions--United States. 2. High
school dropouts--Drug use--United States. 3. Problem youth--Drug
use--United States. 4. Juvenile delinquency--United States. I. Title.
LC146.6.G37 2012
373.12'9130973--dc23
2011036656

ISBN 978-1-59332-491-9

Printed on acid-free 250-year-life paper.

Manufactured in the United States of America.
Table of Contents
List of Tables.......................................................................................vii
List of Figures.......................................................................................xi
Acknowledgements.............................................................................xiii
Chapter 1: Drug Use, Delinquency, and Dropout..................................1
Chapter 2: Causes of Dropout................................................................7
Chapter 3: Distinguishing Causes from Symptoms.............................29
Chapter 4: Explaining Drug Use, Delinquency, and Dropout..............51
Chapter 5: Toward a Theory of Precocious Development...................79
Endnotes..............................................................................................99
Appendix............................................................................................105
References..........................................................................................189
Index .............................................................................................203
v

List of Tables
Table A-1. Summary of prior studies on delinquency, drug
use, and dropout 106
Table A- 2. Controls included by prior studies 113
Table A- 3. Variable definitions 115
Table A-4. Items used to create delinquency and drug use
scales 121
Table A-5. Restrictions to obtain final NLSY97 sample 124
Table A-6. Number of person-years observations
contributed by youth 124
Table A- 7. Descriptive statistics, pooled 125
Table A- 8. Comparison of included and excluded youth in
1997 131
Table A- 9. Descriptive statistics for delinquency and drug
use 135
Table A- 10. Comparison of dropouts and non-dropouts in
1997, by poverty status 137
Table A- 11. Dropout status in 1998 by delinquency in 1997,
by poverty status 142
vii
viii List of Tables
Table A- 12. Dropout status in 1998 by drug use in 1997, by
poverty status 145
Table A- 13. Regressions of dropout on delinquency 146
Table A- 14. Regressions of dropout on drug use 150
Table A- 15. Regressions of dropout on delinquency and drug
use 154
Table A- 16. Summary of regressions of dropout on
delinquency, by offense type 158
Table A- 17. Summary of regressions of dropout on drug use,
by drug type 161
Table A- 18. Summary of alternative model specifications for
delinquency 162
Table A- 19. Summary of alternative model specifications for
drug use 166
Table A- 20. Regressions of dropout on delinquency,
interaction with poverty status 170
Table A- 21. Regressions of dropout on drug use, interaction
with poverty status 171
Table A- 22. Summary of regressions of dropout on
delinquency and drug use, interaction with
alternative measure of poverty status 172
Table A- 23. Regressions of dropout on delinquency,
interactions with social sanctions 173
Table A- 24. Regressions of dropout on drug use, interactions
with social sanctions 174
Table A- 25. Regressions of dropout on delinquency,
interactions with social sanctions and poverty
status 175
List of Tables ix
Table A- 26. Regressions of dropout on drug use, interactions
with social sanctions and poverty status 177
Table A- 27. Predictors of delinquency, 1997 179
Table A- 28. Predictors of drug use, 1997 184