Drugs, Crime, and Other Deviant Adaptations

Book excerpt: This volume brings together a sample of the best of the studies that illustrate two recent trends in research on deviant behavior. The first of these trends is the investigation of deviant behavior in longitudinal perspective. Panels of subjects are followed over long periods of time to establish temporal relationships be tween deviant behavior and the antecedents and consequences of deviant behav ior. The second trend in contemporary research on deviance is the recognition of the association among forms of deviant behavior such as violence, drug abuse, and theft. The recognition of the covariation among forms of deviance stimulated questions regarding the nature of the relationships among multiple forms of de viance. Is one form of deviant behavior a cause or a consequence of other forms of deviant behavior? What variables mediate and moderate such causal relation ships? Do different forms of deviant behavior have common antecedents and consequences? Independent of the foregoing relationships, do particular forms of deviant behavior have unique antecedents and consequences? The eight original research studies that, along with the introduction and overview, constitute this volume are based on data drawn from among the most influential longitudinal studies in the general area of deviant behavior. These studies variously consider common and pattern-specific antecedents and conse quences, reciprocal influences, and intervening and moderating variables in causal relationships among drug use, crime, and other forms of deviance.