The Relationship Among Work, Substance Use, and Antisocial Behavior Among Formerly Incarcerated Young Adults in Longitudinal Mediation Modeling

Background/Purpose: Sampson and Laub theorized employment is an important type of social bond affecting crime reduction. However, little is known about the impact of substance use, whether it has a mediating power to alter the effect of employment, hence influencing criminal offending. Related to this, the complex nature of the relationship between employment and substance use has not been greatly studied. This study attempts to fill the gaps in the literature by adding substance use as an alternate explanation in the relationship between employment and antisocial behavior; and by providing a better understanding of the substance use-work relationship. Therefore, the current study aims to examine to what extent 1) work commitment and substance use affects offending behavior; 2) substance use is associated with work commitment in formerly detained young adults.

Methods: This study used the Pathways to Desistance study (60, 72, 84 month follow-ups), a longitudinal project following 1,354 juvenile offenders in Phoenix and Philadelphia. DV was antisocial behavior measured by total offending variety proportion scales, computed from the Self-Reported Offending scale comprised of 22 items. IV was the work commitment measured by the number of weeks worked across all community and under-the-table jobs. Substance use as a mediator was measured by the average number of times of substance use, including alcohol and illegal drugs. Covariates included family and juvenile characteristics.

Results: In a cross-lagged relation, there was a significant longitudinal effect of substance use on work commitment, such that substance use at T₁ statistically significantly predicted work commitment at T₂, β = -.32, p < .01. In cross-sectional SEM nested in the longitudinal model, direct effect results confirmed the effect of work commitment on reducing antisocial behavior at each time point (β = -.15, p < .001 at T₂, β = -.12, p < .001 at T₃). Contrasted to the hypothesis, however, work commitment was associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior through the presence of substance use (indirect effects: β = .05, p < .01 at T₂, β = .05, p < .001 at T₃). Put differently, people with higher work commitment were more likely to engage in substance use (β = .03, p < .01 at T₂, β = .04, p < .001 T₃) and engaging in substance use tended to increase antisocial behavior (β = 1.44, p < .001 at T₂, β = 1.30, p < .001 at T₃). There was no evidence of a longitudinal mediated effect between work commitment at T₁ and antisocial behavior at T₃ through the presence of substance use at T₂.

Conclusions and Implications: The association between work and substance use revealed its complexity. Further research needs to establish a robustness of causal claims on the relationships. Also, in spite of the effect of work on reducing antisocial behavior, the findings imply establishing strong social bonds to desist from criminal behavior would depend on what extent individuals also desist from substance abuse. This highlights policy to support justice-involved populations’ ability to desist from crime needs to expand to include comprehensive methods.