The relationships of substance abuse to illegal and violent behavior, in a community sample of young adult African American men and women (gender differences)

Violent Behavior as Related to Use of Marijuana and Other Drugs

“…teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, drug dealing, violence and crime is far too common. '' In an earlier longitudinal study 23 of an African-American sample, the authors of this paper reported that the frequency of use of drugs, during lifetime up to age 24, was found to predict to the degree of violent behavior during the ensuing 2 1/2 year period, for both men and women.…”

Effects of Cocaine Intoxication on the Threshold for Stun Gun Induction of Ventricular Fibrillation

“…Kornblum et al (3) reported the presence of at least 1 of 3 illegal drugs (phencyclidine, cocaine, amphetamines) in 13 of 16 cases in which a Taser was used. Violent subjects who pose a threat to law enforcement officers are often intoxicated from illicit drugs such as cocaine, phencyclidine, and amphetamines (4). Cocaine has a variety of cardiac effects, including potential proarrhythmic effects (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13).…”

Scope of HIV risk and co-occurring psychosocial health problems among young adults: Violence, victimization, and substance use

“…Research has also found associations between high-risk sex and substance use, including binge drinking and polydrug use [5,6,13,14]. The few studies examining whether young perpetrators of violence are also more likely to engage in high-risk sex have found significantly positive associations [15][16][17]. To the extent that sexual risk co-occurs with other psychosocial health problems, efforts to change sexual behavior may also require interventions aimed at these co-occurring psychosocial health problems, which may create contexts that serve to enable sexual risk behavior or act as barriers to behavior change [18].…”

“…Young adults, whose living arrangements and daily activities are increasingly independent from their family, may feel even less constrained to curb a predisposition toward unconventional behavior, leading to heightened engagement in risky behaviors. Considerable research based on PBT has demonstrated substantial inter-relationships among different psychosocial health problems in adolescence and young adulthood [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]21]. Other studies supporting PBT have indicated that adolescents and young adults who have a greater number of these problems, as measured by a general index of multiple problem behaviors that includes substance use, sexual risk, and deviance, have a parental and peer environment that is more accepting of deviance and hold more positive beliefs about alcohol, drugs, and sex [19].…”