Answer to Question 1
According to Elliott's research, both drug use and delinquency seem to reflect developmental problems; they are both part of a disturbed lifestyle. This research reveals some important associations between substance abuse and delinquency:
Alcohol abuse seems to be a cause of marijuana and other drug abuse, because most drug users started with alcohol, and youths who abstain from alcohol almost never take drugs.
Marijuana use is a cause of multiple-drug use: About 95 of youths who use more serious drugs started with pot; only 5 of serious drug users never smoked pot.
Youths who commit felonies started off with minor delinquent acts. Few delinquents (1) report committing only felonies.
Elliott's research has been supported by other studies also indicating that delinquency and substance abuse are part of a general pattern of deviance or problem behavior syndrome, such as association with an antisocial peer group and educational failure.
There seems to be a pattern in which troubled youths start by committing petty crimes and drinking alcohol and proceed to harder drugs and more serious crimes.
Youths who drink at an early age later go on to engage in violent acts in their adolescence; violent adolescents increase their alcohol abuse as they mature.
Both their drug abuse and the delinquency are part of an urban, underclass lifestyle involving limited education, few job skills, unstable families, few social skills, and patterns of law violations.
Student views will vary.
Answer to Question 2
Individual-level theorists