Deviant Peer Association as a Predictor of Development of Risk for Selling Illicit Drugs: Are Effects Age-Graded?

Abstract

Illicit drug sales present a public health issue that results in proliferation of drug use–related problems, like overdose deaths, stemming from use of illicit drugs. However, there remain gaps in understanding of psychosocial and developmental processes involved with predicting drug sales. Deviant peer association presents one potential risk factor for selling drugs and this relationship may be age-graded. This study examined deviant peer association as a predictor of risk for selling drugs and investigated whether salience of this relationship depended on when exposure to deviant peers occurred. The Pathways to Desistance data were analyzed. Mixed effects logistic regression models were utilized to examine the effects of deviant peer association on odds of selling illicit drugs and cross-level interactions with age variables. Findings indicated that association with deviant peers increased odds of selling illicit drugs. This relationship diminished as participants aged through adolescence, but later increased in magnitude as participants aged.