Early Consumption and Late Problems : Anti-Social Personality Disorder

According to T. Ragan and M. Beaver (2009) ‘’A wealth of research has revealed that the most chronic, violent offenders display an early age of criminal onset (DeLisi, 2005). For example, DeLisi (2006) reported that offenders who were first arrested at the age of 14 or 15 were more likely to commit violent crimes than those who were first arrested after the age of 15’’ (p.176). Anti-Social personality disorder can create a lot of criminological and psychologically issues. By living in an illegal system from an early age, it can affect a lot the direction of the consumer future. A lot of study support the fact that frequent marijuana consumption can relate to a bigger drug and then increase the chances of being involve in violent act. Again, the impact of the social environment is important on marijuana consumers, a lot of consumers pretend to have deviant peers, family dysfunctions or another social problem. Also, youth with more permissive parents were more likely to consume marijuana and these people reported themselves having lower self-control. To conclude, they mostly found that the social environment really affect a person decision to take marijuana, and then it is a big circle that affect them to have lower self-control in their lives. 

T. Ragan, D., & M. Beaver, K. (2009). Chronic Offenders: A Life-Course Analysis of Marijuana Users. Youth & Society, 42(2), 174 –198.

 

Street Gangs and Marijuana Uses

According to MacKenzie, Hunt and Joe-Laidler (2006): ‘’Researchers and policy makers alike have defined adolescent drug use as a critical social problem. Besides its illegal nature, the reason for its importance is in part related to the belief that drug use may act as a gate-way or causal factor for future and more serious delinquency behavior.’’(p.100).To understand the consummation of the street youth we must understand that smoking cannabis is a way to get accept in a group and this is mostly a lifestyle. This is a kind of requirement to be accepted, respect and have a good status in the gang. Also, one of the main drug sell by the street youth is cannabis, so living in a world of drugs and cannabis, it is normal that they consume more because they have a very high opportunity to do it. The average age of the first drug consumption is aroud 13 years old, cannabis is very cheap and provide a lot of thing in street gangs, not only by the gangs but also by people who watch yourself in the street and see you smoking marijuana , they normally won’t harass you. Marijuana is an activity for a lot of youth and they mostly used this drug early, also a lot of influences come from a close friend or family member. In certain case, especially in street gangs, they often start with small drugs and become addict to bigger drug later, as for example cocaine. After all, the social influence is the biggest problem in this case.

MacKenzie, K., Hunt, G., & Joe-Laidler, K. (2006). Youth Gangs and Drugs: The Case of Marijuana. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 4(3-4), 99-134.

 

Developmental Trajectories of Sexual Risk Behaviors and Their Relationships With Other Risk Factors Have Not Been Well Established From a Longitudinal Perspective

David Y. C. Huang,Debra A. Murphy and Yih-Ing Hser studied the Developmental Trajectory of Sexual Risk Behaviors From Adolescence to Young Adulthood. According to Y. C. Huang, Murphy and Hser (2012): ’’While associations of sexual risk behaviors with other problem behaviors and contextual factors have been widely discussed, developmental trajectories of sexual risk behaviors and their relationships with other risk factors have not been well established from a longitudinal perspective’’(p.481). The study has been done between a group of 24 and 28 years-old. The study conclude many things, first the sexual risks can be affect by a lot of characteristics as for example, friend influence, mother support, father support, ethnicity, gender etc… However, researchers found that drug and alcohol users at the age of 15 were more at risk for sexual activities than a non-user. The relationship between the marijuana consumption and sexual risks were correlate at every age, however the consumption differ from age to age and it affect the sexual risks from age to age. They conclude that sexual risks were often related to delinquent behaviours.

Y. C. Huang, D., A. Murphy, D., & Hser, Y. (2011). Developmental Trajectory of Sexual Risk                           Behaviors From Adolescence to Young Adulthood. Youth & Society, 44(4), 479 –499.