Drug Addiction, Criminality and Birth Order

Abstract

The aim of present study was to see the frequency of crime among individuals with drug addiction with respect to birth order. Data of 332 (73 first born; 188 middle born; and 71 last born) indoor male patients was taken from a tertiary care drug addiction treatment centre and rehabilitation centre Pakistan. The age range of the participants was from 15 to 57 years (M = 29.5, SD = 2.4). Findings showed that the frequency of substance abuse among first born, middle born and last born was 22%, 57% and 21% respectively. And the frequency of crime was 26.03% among first born, 29.79% among middle born and 29.58% among last born. Results showed that there is no difference among the groups across birth order and crime.

Development of Adler Birth Order Scale

“…Later, Miller (2013) strengthens this idea and suggests deviance means engaging in prohibited behaviors set by norms and customs of the society like physically assaulting another person, stealing, or destroying property or using drugs like marijuana, alcohol or other recreational drugs. Aslam (2015), Eckstein et al (2010), Gustafson (2010), and Khan et al (2018) also supported Adler's views by stating that children share different positive and negative traits based on the parental treatment they receive. The scores for this subscale range from 0-32 where higher scores indicating higher deviance.…”