Patterns of Crime and Drug Use Trajectories in Relation to Treatment Initiation and 5-Year Outcomes

Michael Prendergast, David Huang and Yih-Ing Hser
Additional contact information
Michael Prendergast: University of California, Los Angeles
David Huang: University of California, Los Angeles
Yih-Ing Hser: University of California, Los Angeles

Evaluation Review, 2008, vol. 32, issue 1, 59-82

Abstract: Drug abusers vary considerably in their drug use and criminal behavior over time, and these trajectories are likely to influence drug treatment participation and treatment outcomes. Drawing on longitudinal natural history data from three samples of adult male drug users, we identify four groups with distinctive drug use and crime trajectories during the 5 years prior to their first treatment episode. The groups' characteristics of initial treatment are compared. The trajectory groups are then included in Poisson growth curve models to predict drug use, incarceration, and employment during the 5 years following first treatment. Findings indicate that posttreatment drug use decreased and posttreatment employment increased. There was little change in posttreatment incarceration. Posttreatment trajectories for drug use, incarceration, and employment were significantly different across the four trajectory groups.

Keywords: drug use trajectories; crime trajectories; treatment; growth curve models; longitudinal analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193841X07308082 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:evarev:v:32:y:2008:i:1:p:59-82

DOI: 10.1177/0193841X07308082

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Evaluation Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().