Problem drinking in delinquent and nondelinquent adolescent males.

Clinical evidence suggests that problem drinking among adolescent delinquents is more severe than among nondelinquents and is accompanied by greater social pathology. This investigation explored this question empirically by comparing samples of delinquent (n = 49) and nondelinquent (n = 100) adolescent male drinkers matched on age and race and controlling for community size and region of the country. Criteria for problem drinking and other measures duplicated those developed for a national probability survey of teenaged drinking practices conducted in the United States during 1974-1975. Results replicated the often-reported higher incidence of problem drinkers among delinquents than nondelinquents. More to the point, delinquent problem drinkers showed severer involvement with alcohol and drugs and more signs of social pathology than nondelinquent problem drinkers. Delinquent problem drinkers drank more, drank more frequently, reported more negative consequences from drinking in more areas, and perceived themselves as having a drinking problem more often than nondelinquent problem drinkers. These differences were not found between delinquent and nondelinquent subjects who showed no evidence of drinking problems. The results have implications for treatment and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and for the construction of policy-relevant definitions of problem drinking in young people.