Substance Use and Antisocial Behaviour Across Adolescence: Which Relationship?

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the longitudinal association between substance use and antisocial behaviour across adolescence. The data came from a large sample of boys and girls, from the community, assessed four times between the ages of 7‑8 and 17‑18 years. Results showed that 1) with age there was an increasing number of participants with both kinds of problems; 2) antisocial behaviour in early adolescence predicted substance use in late adolescence (17‑18years) and this effect remained significant (although weaker) when other variables such as low self‑control were controlled for; 3) substance use was not a good predictor of antisocial behaviour for the same period; and 4) adolescents with both periods were at risk of more serious forms of social maladjustment than their counterparts just with one (or none) of those two problems.