Gender Differences in Drug Use and Crime: Patterns of Continuity and Change

建议摘要：吸毒和犯罪中的性别差异：延续和变化的模式这项研究将扩展对理解女性越轨行为至关重要的理论。具体地说，它侧重于性别在改变非法药物滥用和非法收益轨迹方面的影响；它建立在初步研究的基础上，这些研究表明，青年男女之间的生活存在着相当大的差异，这可能有助于在药物滥用和经济犯罪方面存在性别差异。最近的调查仔细审查了罪犯的经济生活，提供了通过将合法收入理论应用于非法收入来测试收入确定过程的一般性的模型，但这些调查在很大程度上忽略了性别的影响；特别是，以前的研究忽视了福利分配和最近的福利改革法对犯罪和吸毒的性别轨迹的影响。这项研究的问题是：(1)女性吸毒是否与男性吸毒受到相同预测因素的影响？以及，(2)性别如何影响与吸毒相关的社会危害？目前关于毒品使用和经济犯罪原因的理论和研究指出，犯罪嵌入(例如，被逮捕、有犯罪“朋友”)是促进非法活动的，而传统的嵌入(例如，结婚、生孩子、上学、就业)似乎降低了非法行为的吸引力。然而，目前尚不清楚的是，这些传统因素是否类似地解释了女性吸毒和犯罪中止的原因。因此，研究的重点是一般与毒品和犯罪升级和停止相关的因素，并询问这些因素是否解释了女性的犯罪和药物使用，以及它们是否解释了男性的行为。这项研究还考虑了这些预测因素是否会在不同的经济气候中发生变化，以及福利改革条款的州与州之间的差异是否有助于解释非法药物使用和经济犯罪方面的性别差异。数据将来自三个备受尊敬的、具有全国代表性的美国受访者纵向调查，以及他们在两个不同时期的人生转变：衰退时期和经济机会更大的时期。数据来自全国青年调查(NYS)、全国青年纵向调查(NLSY)和国家支持工作示范项目(SW)。数据分析包括使用潜在增长曲线模型估计个人内模型，以检验福利收入和收入、家庭因素、教育程度、同伴因素、人口特征和药物使用的经济指标的影响方面的性别差异。研究问题也是通过宏观层面的分析来解决的，这些国家在福利改革、政府转移支付、毒品使用和犯罪方面存在特定的差异。这种对州与州之间差异的宏观研究是使用汇集的时间序列分析来估计的。在州和国家一级预算短缺的时代，政策制定者了解防止药物滥用和相关犯罪的最佳手段尤其重要；因此，应该调查针对性别的政策的必要性。该项目的结果将在药物滥用治疗、福利分配和刑事司法干预等领域产生重要的性别政策影响。它的智力优势在于，它将实施个人内部模型，这将提供洞察家庭地位、就业或教育程度的变化如何随着时间的推移而产生性别意义的洞察。以前对毒品和犯罪中的性别差异进行的研究一直是静止的，因为在某个时间点将男性群体与女性群体进行比较，以确定性别可能如何影响毒品使用或犯罪。因此，这项研究建立在当前的理论和方法知识的基础上，以传达对性别如何改变非法药物使用和经济收入的预测因素的更微妙的理解。此外，宏观层面的分析将产生一个新的数据集，为研究人员提供关于政府转移、犯罪率和吸毒率、贫困水平、失业率和就业率以及员工特征的有价值的各州性别数据；这一分析还将向学者和政策制定者提供关于福利改革前后各州福利政策、犯罪率和毒品使用之间的性别关系的信息。

Proposal Abstract: Gender Differences in Drug Use and Crime: Patterns of Continuity and ChangeThis research study will expand theory crucial to understanding female deviance. Specifically it focuses on the effect of gender in altering trajectories of illegal substance abuse and illegal earnings; it builds on preliminary research that demonstrated there are considerable differences between the lives of young men and women that may contribute to gendered differences in substance abuse and economic crime. Recent investigations have scrutinized the economic lives of criminal offenders, offering models that test the generality of the earnings determination process by applying theories of legal attainment to illegal income, but these investigations have, for the most part, ignored the effect of gender; in particular, previous research has ignored the impact of welfare allocations and the recent Welfare Reform Law on gendered trajectories of crime and drug use. This research asks: (1) is female drug use affected by the same predictors as male drug use? and, (2) how does gender affect the social harm associated with drug use? Current theory and research on the causes of drug use and economic crime point to criminal embeddedness (e.g., being arrested, having criminal" friends) as promoting illegal activity whereas conventional embeddedness (e.g., being married, having children, attending school, employment) appears to reduce the appeal of illegal behavior. What is not yet clear, however, is if these conventional factors similarly explain female drug use and criminal desistance. Therefore, the research focus is on factors generally associated with drug and crime escalation and cessation and it asks whether these factors explain female crime and substance use as well they explain male behavior. This research also considers whether these predictors are altered in different economic climates and whether state-to-state differences in welfare reform provisions might help explain the gender gap in illegal drug use and economic crime. Data will be utilized from three well-respected nationally representative longitudinal surveys of U.S. respondents and their life-course transitions during two different time periods: a time of recession and a time of greater economic opportunity. The data come from the National Youth Survey (NYS), the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), and the National Supported Work Demonstration Project (SW). Data analysis consists of estimating within-person models using Latent Growth Curve Modeling to test for gender differences in the effect of welfare receipt and income, family factors, educational attainment, peer factors, demographic characteristics, and economic indicators of drug use. The research questions are also addressed using a macro-level analysis of state-specific differences in welfare reform, government transfer spending, and drug use and crime. This macro-level research on state-to-state differences is estimated using pooled time-series analysis.In an era of budget shortfalls on a state and national level, it is especially important that policymakers understand the best means to prevent substance abuse and related crime; therefore, the need for gender-specific policy should be investigated. The results of this project will have important gendered policy implications in areas such as substance abuse treatment, welfare allocation, and criminal justice interventions. Its intellectual merit is that it will implement intra-individual models, which will provide insight into how changes in family status, employment, or educational attainment may have gendered meanings over time. Prior research examining gender differences in drugs and crime has been static, in that groups of men are compared to groups of women at one point in time to determine how gender might affect drug use or crime. Consequently, this research builds on current theoretical and methodological knowledge to convey a more nuanced understanding of how gender modifies the predictors of illegal substance use and economic income. In addition, the macro-level analysis will produce a new dataset, providing researchers with valuable state-specific gendered data on government transfers, crime and drug use rates, poverty levels, unemployment and employment rates, and characteristics of employees; this analysis will also inform academics and policymakers on the gendered relationships between state-specific welfare policy, crime rates, and drug use pre- and post-welfare reform.