Research within the criminological literature has consistently found an association between drug use and crime. Despite this strong empirical association, however, debate still remains regarding the mechanisms responsible for the relationship between these behaviors. An obstacle to the study of this association has been that observational data are highly susceptible to confounding factors. Thus, relationships hypothesized to be causal based on observational data may in fact be spurious. One type of confounding factor that is especially important to understanding the drug–crime relationship is that of selection effects. Because substance use is not a randomly assigned event, it is likely that substance users and non-users differ on a number of important factors. These factors likely influence not only the likelihood of using drugs, but of participating in criminal and delinquent behavior as well. Those who make the decision to use drugs, then, may be more likely to engage in other types of antisocial behavior as well, regardless of whether substance use occurs. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this thesis employs propensity score matching to explore the role of selection effects in the relationship between drug use and crime. Possible explanations for, and past research addressing, the drug–crime relationship will be reviewed. Following this, the sample, measures, and statistical analyses employed within the thesis will be introduced, and the results of the propensity score analyses will be explained. Finally, the conclusion of this thesis discusses key findings, the implications of these findings, and the study's limitations. / A Thesis Submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science. / Summer Semester, 2009. / June 8, 2009. / Crime, Substance Use, Drugs, Delinquency, Propensity Score Matching, Selection Effects / Includes bibliographical references. / Kevin M. Beaver, Professor Directing Thesis; Bruce Bullington, Committee Member; Daniel P. Mears, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_180421 |
| Contributors | Ragan, Daniel T. (authoraut), Beaver, Kevin M. (professor directing thesis), Bullington, Bruce (committee member), Mears, Daniel P. (committee member), College of Criminology and Criminal Justice (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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