Childhood Victimization and Risk for Alcohol and Drug Arrests

• NCJ Number: 154156
• Journal: International Journal of the Addictions Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: (1994) Pages: 235-274
• Author(s): T Ireland; C S Widom
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 50 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-IJ-CX-0033; 89-IJ-CX-0007; SO7RRO731
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

Using data from a prospective cohorts design study, this paper examines the relationship between early victimization during early childhood and subsequent arrest for alcohol and drug-related offenses.

Abstract

Complete official criminal histories were compared for 908 individuals who had experienced childhood physical and sexual abuse and neglect, as revealed in records of a midwestern county juvenile and adult courts from 1967-71, and 667 members of a control sample matched for gender, age, race, and approximate family socioeconomic status. The child abuse victims were all 11 years old or younger. Official arrest records were then searched in 1988. After controlling for relevant demographic characteristics, logistic regression analyses indicated that childhood maltreatment is a significant predictor of adult, but not juvenile, arrests for offenses related to alcohol, other drugs, or both. Tables, appended research findings on childhood maltreatment and drug abuse, author photographs and biographies, and 74 references (Author abstract modified)