Gender Differences in Drug Use and Crime: Patterns of Continuity and Change

Melissa Thompson, Principal Investigator
mthomp@pdx.edu
503-725-3614

Christopher Uggen, Co-investigator: Distinguished McKnight Professor and Chair of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. University of Minnesota

Consultants: Brent Fuller, Clinical Psychologist, Mental Health Department, Veteran’s Administration Medical Center and a clinical member of the Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University.

Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program

This research study expands theory crucial to understanding female deviance. Specifically it focuses on the effect of gender in altering trajectories of illegal substance abuse and illegal earnings; it builds on preliminary research that demonstrated there are considerable differences between the lives of young men and women that may contribute to gendered differences in substance abuse and economic crime. Recent investigations have scrutinized the economic lives of criminal offenders, offering models that test the generality of the earnings determination process by applying theories of legal attainment to illegal income, but these investigations have, for the most part, ignored the effect of gender; in particular, previous research has ignored the impact of welfare allocations and the recent Welfare Reform Law on gendered trajectories of crime and drug use. This research asks: (1) is female drug use affected by the same predictors as male drug use? and, (2) how does gender affect the social harm associated with drug use? Current theory and research on the causes of drug use and economic crime point to criminal embeddedness (e.g., being arrested, having “criminal” friends) as promoting illegal activity whereas conventional embeddedness (e.g., being married, having children, attending school, employment) appears to reduce the appeal of illegal behavior. What is not yet clear, however, is if these conventional factors similarly explain female drug use and criminal desistance. Therefore, the research focus is on factors generally associated with drug and crime escalation and cessation and it asks whether these factors explain female crime and substance use as well they explain male behavior. This research also considers whether these predictors are altered in different economic climates and whether state-to-state differences in welfare reform provisions might help explain the gender gap in illegal drug use and economic crime.

Data will be utilized from three well-respected nationally representative longitudinal surveys of U.S. respondents and their life-course transitions during two different time periods: a time of recession and a time of greater economic opportunity. The data come from the National Youth Survey (NYS), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), and the National Supported Work Demonstration Project (SW). Data analysis consists of estimating within-person models using Latent Growth Curve Modeling to test for gender differences in the effect of welfare receipt and income, family factors, educational attainment, peer factors, demographic characteristics, and economic indicators of drug use. The research questions are also addressed using a macro-level analysis of state-specific differences in welfare reform, government transfer spending, and drug use and crime. This macro-level research on state-to-state differences is estimated using pooled time-series analysis.

In an era of budget shortfalls on a state and national level, it is especially important that policymakers understand the best means to prevent substance abuse and related crime; therefore, the need for gender-specific policy should be investigated. The results of this project will have important gendered policy implications in areas such as substance abuse treatment, welfare allocation, and criminal justice interventions. Its intellectual merit is that it will implement intra-individual models, which will provide insight into how changes in family status, employment, or educational attainment may have gendered meanings over time. Prior research examining gender differences in drugs and crime has been static, in that groups of men are compared to groups of women at one point in time to determine how gender might affect drug use or crime. Consequently, this research builds on current theoretical and methodological knowledge to convey a more nuanced understanding of how gender modifies the predictors of illegal substance use and economic income. In addition, the macro-level analysis will produce a new dataset, providing researchers with valuable state-specific gendered data on government transfers, crime and drug use rates, poverty levels, unemployment and employment rates, and characteristics of employees; this analysis will also inform academics and policymakers on the gendered relationships between state-specific welfare policy, crime rates, and drug use pre- and post-welfare reform.