Religiosity, Crime, and Drug Use Among Juvenile Offenders: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach

Abstract

This study tests whether a juvenile offender’s religious involvement or religiosity is inversely related to crime (i.e., non-drug offending) and use of licit and illicit drug when their trajectories are examined. It also tests whether the relationships are attributable in part to psychosocial correlates of religiosity as well as crime and drug use. This paper analyzes 11-wave panel data from the Pathways to Desistance study of adjudicated youths from the juvenile and adult court systems in Maricopa County, Arizona, and Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Using a 19-item index of aggressive and income offending and alternative measures of religiosity (objective and subjective religiosity) and drug use (binge drinking and marijuana use), this study applies latent growth modeling to test hypotheses. As hypothesized, between-intercept and between-slope relationships of religiosity—subjective and, to a lesser extent, objective religiosity—and crime/drug use—non-drug offending, binge drinking, and, to a greater extent, marijuana use—are found to be negative in direction. It is also found that the inverse relationships are attributable in part to between-intercept and between-slope relationships of religiosity and psychosocial variables of moral disengagement, legal cynicism, impulse control, and suppression of aggression and those relationships of psychosocial variables and crime/drug use. This study provides evidence that religiosity and crime/drug use tend to be inversely related when their rates of change over an extended period of time as well as levels or changes between discrete points of time are examined.