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We are thrilled to celebrate Alannah McPherson for successfully defending her MA thesis, titled " Substance use in adolescence and continued offending into adulthood: Examining the mediating role of informal social control using structural equation modeling."

Abstract

Within samples of youth in the criminal legal system, substance use is associated with more frequent convictions and prolonged offending into adulthood. Resultingly, substance use is often targeted by interventions to address the risk of reoffending among youth. From a cumulative disadvantage perspective, substance use may disrupt the accumulation of informal social control that is typically associated with adulthood, which in turn affects continued offending. Using a subsample (n = 998) of youth from the Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender Study, the current study examines whether the relationship between substance use in adolescence and continued offending in later adulthood is at least partially mediated by participants’ social environments in early adulthood. Results identify a significant indirect effect and further indicate that gender does not moderate the relationship between substance use and (a) informal social control or (b) offending. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.