Young Delinquents at Increased Risk for Addiction

Boys who show signs of delinquency before age 12 are at greater risk of becoming dependent on marijuana and cigarettes, according to a new Florida State University study.

Psychology Professor Jeanette Taylor, the lead author of the study, found that young delinquents became dependent on marijuana and cigarettes younger and at a faster rate than those who became delinquent later in their teen years. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, may affect the way psychologists and counselors treat children who are referred to them because of delinquency or behavioral problems.

"The worst mistake is assuming kids are too young for a substance abuse problem," Taylor said. "Kids who get started using marijuana or cigarettes at an early age are likely to continue doing it, and that could lead to other problems. Besides the obvious health risks, substance use reinforces the antisocial behavior. They could start losing sight of the values that their parents or society hold for them."

The study tracked 147 11-year-old boys taking part in the Minnesota Twin Family Study through age 17. The sample included 36 boys who showed evidence of at least three of the following before age 12: aggression at school, contact with the police, diagnosis of conduct disorder or a score above the mean on a delinquent behavior inventory. It also included 86 boys with at least one of the delinquency indicators occurring after age 12. Twenty-five boys with no signs of delinquent behavior through age 17 served as the control group.

Symptoms of alcohol, nicotine and cannabis addiction were assessed at ages 11, 14 and 17 to see how substance dependence symptoms changed over time among the boys in each group.

The results were consistent with the notion that boys who lack inhibition, hang around with other antisocial peers and possess certain psychological characteristics are more prone to develop early substance dependence than those who lack or have lower levels of these characteristics.

The study also looked at symptoms of alcohol dependence but found there wasn't much difference between the early-onset delinquents and the late-onset delinquents. However, both groups had a more rapid increase in alcohol dependence symptoms than the control group. In fact, the boys in the control group - those who had no delinquent tendencies - showed no signs of substance dependency over the entire course of adolescence.

"If your child gets to age 17 without any trouble with antisocial behavior, the probability is very low that he would develop any clinically significant substance problem during these years," Taylor said.

While it's not unusual for teens to experiment with cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, Taylor said researchers have theorized that delinquent teens who develop substance abuse problems may hit a snag in the normal trajectory from adolescent antisocial behavior to prosocial adult behavior.

"We expect that late-starters will be able to move beyond the experimentation and the antisocial behavior unless they develop a substance abuse problem," Taylor said. "The early-starters are already at greater risk of continuing their antisocial behavior, and a drug abuse problem will only increase their risk."