Non-random Study Attrition: Assessing Correction Techniques and the Magnitude of Bias in a Longitudinal Study of Reentry from Prison

Criminal Behav Ment Health

2023

Background Alcohol dependence is a risk factor for experiencing victimisation, but little is known about how peer and behavioural mechanisms may explain this relationship. Aims To test deviant peer association and/or heavy‐episodic drinking frequency as mediators between alcohol dependence and risk for being victimised. Methods The Pathways to Desistance data were analysed. Generalised structural equation modelling was used to determine whether either or both of the hypothesised pathways significantly mediated the relationship between alcohol dependence and victimisation. Results Alcohol dependence at recruitment (age 14–17) was associated with higher odds of being a victim of some form of violence in Wave 3 (age x–y). This relationship was significantly mediated by deviant peer association but not heavy‐episodic drinking frequency between Waves 2 and 3. Conclusions These findings add knowledge about the mechanism of a link between early alcohol dependence and later violent victimisation among young offenders. They suggest that more focus on reducing delinquent peer association, or reducing its impact, is crucial to reducing further harms to these young people, in turn possibly affecting continuing substance use and reoffending risks. Peer mentoring programmes help to provide prosocial modelling and reduce deviant peer ties in some circumstances, and these findings suggest that the next step should be their evaluation specifically among justice‐involved young people with alcohol dependence. Providing additional funding and/or opportunities for involvement in such mentoring programmes may help to reduce the public health and financial costs associated with alcohol dependence in the juvenile justice system.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the link between alcohol dependence and victimisation risk: Is risk explained by peers or alcohol behaviours?

Criminal Behav Ment Health

2023

“…This 7% missingness was observed fairly evenly across all measures included in analyses, indicating that there was not one specific measure that had significantly more missing data than others. Further, some research has indicated that listwise deletion may actually provide the most accurate estimation of a full dataset for criminal justice populations (Mitchell et al, 2021). Coefficients are described in the form of odds ratios (ORs), indicating the impact that a one-unit increase in an independent variable of interest had on the odds of being in a higher category on the ordinal scale for each substance use outcome.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxiety as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Deviant Peer Association and Substance Use: Does the Specific Dimension of Anxiety Matter?

2022

Journal of Drug Issues

Deviant peer association has been identified as a risk factor for substance use. Anxiety has been examined as a moderator of this relationship in a limited capacity. Despite this, investigations of specific dimensions of anxiety as moderators of this relationship remain understudied. This study examined three dimensions of anxiety as moderators: physiological anxiety, worry/oversensitivity anxiety, and social concerns/concentration anxiety. The Pathways to Desistance data were used in analyses. Ordered logistic regression models were used to assess relationships of interest for three substance use outcomes: heavy episodic drinking, marijuana use, and cigarette use. Findings indicated that social concerns/concentration anxiety moderated the relationship between deviant peer association and marijuana use, but, contrary to predictions, a protective effect at higher levels of this form of anxiety was observed. Worry/oversensitivity anxiety also appeared to exert a significant and negative direct effect on all three substance use outcomes. Implications are discussed.

“…This limited concern was focused on concepts pertaining to BPD and substance use variables being correlated with risk for missingness. Further, some recent research has indicated that listwise deletion provides the most accurate approximation of effects when missing data due to differential attrition is present among criminal justice populations when compared to methods like multiple imputation (Mitchell et al, 2021). Because this was a sample of young adults previously involved with the justice system, listwise deletion then presented the best and most parsimonious option here.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Deviant Peer Association as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms and Substance Use

Criminal Justice Review

2022

Borderline personality disorder has been identified as a robust risk factor predicting substance use. There is a dearth of research examining how peer ties may condition this relationship. This study hypothesized that deviant peer association would amplify the relationship between Borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms and substance use. The Pathways to Desistance data were analyzed. Ordered logistic regression was used to analyze data. Results indicated that elevated levels of BPD symptoms predicted increased substance use frequency. Deviant peer association moderated the effects of BPD symptoms on marijuana use frequency and daily cigarette use. This moderation effect was in the opposite direction hypothesized, indicating that greater levels of deviant peer association dulled the effect on BPD symptoms on substance use. The unexpected effect indicated that youth reporting symptoms may be buffered against the impact of strain by having any peer relationships, even deviant ones.