Abstract
Adolescents who befriend drug using peers may be at risk for initiated and continued substance use. The present secondary data analysis examined how drug use homophily (i.e., similarity) in justice-involved boys’ friendship groups relates to their subsequent substance use variety across a period of five years. Participants were 1216 first-time adolescent offenders (Mage Baseline = 15.29; 100% male). Multilevel model analyses revealed that, among participants who entered the study with a history of substance use, drug use homophily was associated with greater subsequent substance use variety. Among participants who entered the study without a history of substance use, this association was no longer significant. The findings have implications for guiding justice system programming aimed at decreasing adolescent offenders’ substance use.
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Funding
This work was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the County of Orange, the Fudge Family Foundation, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the National Institute of Justice.
Data Sharing and DeclarationThe data that support the findings of this study are available, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study and thus are not publicly available. However, data are available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission.
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A.D.D. conceived of the present study, participated in the interpretation of the data, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; A.G.T. consulted in the design and coordination of the present study, assisted with data collection for the original study from which this secondary data analysis was run, participated in the interpretation of the data, and reviewed and provided feedback on the manuscript; H.I.V.-E. participated in the interpretation of the data, consulted on and reviewed the statistical analysis, and reviewed and provided feedback on the manuscript; L.S. conceptualized and carried out data collection for the original study from which this secondary data analysis was run, participated in the interpretation of the data, and provided feedback on the manuscript; P.J.F. conceptualized and carried out data collection for the original study from which this secondary data analysis was run, participated in the interpretation of the data, and provided feedback on the manuscript; E.E.C. conceptualized and carried out data collection for the original study from which the secondary data analysis was run, participated in the interpretation of the data, and reviewed and provided feedback on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Ethics approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Boards of the University of California, Irvine, Temple University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Texas at El Paso.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Thirteen Substances Listed in Substance Use/Abuse Subscale
1) Alcohol; 2) marijuana or hashish; 3) sedatives or tranquilizers; 4) stimulants (amphetamines); 5) cocaine; 6) opiates; 7) ecstasy; 8) hallucinogens; 9) inhalants; 10) amyl nitrate, odorizers, or rush; 11) own prescription medication (unauthorized use); 12) others’ prescription medication (unauthorized use); 13) other drugs.
Appendix B: Full Results from Exploratory Model
Table 5
Table 6
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Drozdova, A.D., Thomas, A.G., Volpert-Esmond, H.I. et al. Drug Use Homophily in Adolescent Offenders’ Close Friendship Groups. J Youth Adolescence 51, 2046–2059 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01637-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01637-x
Keywords
- Adolescent substance use
- Justice-involved adolescents
- Homophily
- Friend substance use