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Drug Abuse and Antisocial Behavior pp 157–180Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Adulthood, Addiction, and Antisocial Behavior

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Part of the book series: Palgrave's Frontiers in Criminology Theory ((FCRT))

Abstract

Problems related to addiction and antisocial behavior may be particularly pronounced in adolescence and emerging adulthood, but both—for a critical minority of individuals—persist well into the adult stage. In this chapter, we begin by making the case that a biosocial understanding of adulthood demands that we pay careful attention to developmental differences across the five to six decades that, on average, constitute the adult years. Next, we present data on drug abuse, addiction, and antisocial behavior during the stages of young (ages 26–34), middle (ages 35–64), and older (ages 65 and older) adulthood from several of the leading sources of epidemiological surveillance in the United States. In particular, we pay careful attention to the precipitous declines in these behaviors that are typically observed beginning with the young adult stage and continuing on through the end of life. Finally, we examine several of the key insights that can be gleaned from long-term, prospective studies conducted with adults who struggle with alcohol and drug-use disorders.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) places the life expectancy for Americans at 78.8 years, we do see noteworthy differences across gender and race/ethnicity. On average, women live roughly five years longer than men (81.2 years versus 76.4 years) and non-Hispanic whites live, on average, four years longer than do African-Americans (78.9 years versus 75.1 years). The life expectancy for Hispanics (81.6 years) is greater than that of all other major racial/ethnic groups and nobody seems to live longer than Hispanic females who, on average live 83.8 years. All this is to say, adulthood is a broad window, but one that is broader for some than for others.

  2. 2.

    This pattern of results is consistent with recent findings for past-year alcohol use based in nationally representative survey data from the National Epidemiologic Study on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC; Dawson et al., 2015) as well as prospective data from the United Kingdom (Britton et al., 2015). It is noteworthy, however, that the recent NESARC-based study suggests that the proportion of adult alcohol users in the United States has increased by roughly 7% to 10% since the early 2000s.

  3. 3.

    There is debate as to the use of long-term abstinence as a primary marker of a positive outcome for the treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders. Noting the chronic nature of addiction and highlighting the likelihood of relapse for many people, serious thinkers in the field of addiction consider meaningful reductions in alcohol and drug use to be a positive outcome for those with addictive disorders. We fully affirm that relapse is a high probability event for many people in recovery and that relapse along the road to recovery should not be viewed as a treatment failure; however, we also concur with those noting that abstinence is generally to be understood as the optimal goal for a lasting recovery (DuPont et al., 2016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston University, Boston, USA

    Christopher P. Salas-Wright

  2. Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, USA

    Michael G. Vaughn

  3. School of Public Health, University of Texas, Texas, USA

    Jennifer M. Reingle González

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  1. Christopher P. Salas-Wright
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Salas-Wright, C.P., Vaughn, M.G., González, J.M.R. (2016). Adulthood, Addiction, and Antisocial Behavior. In: Drug Abuse and Antisocial Behavior. Palgrave's Frontiers in Criminology Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55817-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55817-6_7

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