Deviant Peer Preferences: A Simplified Approach to Account for Peer Selection Effects.

The goal of this study is to present and validate a simple method for accounting for peer selection on offending based on a respondent's self-reported preferences for friends who engage in criminal behavior. Using primary panel data (n = 611), having a preference for peers who offend (the measure of peer selection) relates positively and significantly to offending behavior. The selection measure, which carries the advantage of being closely aligned to criminological theory, renders the peer offending/perso nal offending relationship nonsignificant.

Has COVID-19 Changed Crime? Crime Rates in the United States during the Pandemic.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, state-level governments across the United States issued mandatory stay-at-home orders around the end of March 2020. Though intended to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the lockdowns have had sweeping impacts on life in ways which were not originally planned. This study's purpose is to investigate the extent to which governmental responses to COVID-19 have impacted crime rates in the U.

Personal support networks, social capital, and risk of relapse among individuals treated for substance use issues.

Background: The success of treatment for substance use issues varies with personal and social factors, including the composition and structure of the individual's personal support network. This paper describes the personal support networks and social capital of a sample of Italian adults after long-term residential therapeutic treatment for substance use issues, and analyses network correlates of post-treatment substance use (relapse).

Methods: Using a social network analysis approach, data were obtained from structured interviews (90-120 min long) with 80 former clients of a large non-governmental therapeutic treatment agency in Italy providing voluntary residential treatments and rehabilitation services for substance use issues.

Emotional health of Canadian and Finnish students with disabilities or chronic conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dimensions of emotional health in two population-based groups (Finland and Canada) of adolescents (ages 13 and 15 years) who self-identify as having a disability or chronic condition, as conceptualized by the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Data from the 2002 WHO Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey were used to compare the prevalence of emotional health (items on feeling low, feeling nervous) within and between countries. Eighteen percent of the Canadian and Finnish samples indicated they had a long-time disability, illness or medical condition.

Adolescent risk taking, neighborhood social capital, and health.

Purpose: To assess the roles of a neighborhood measure of social capital, family affluence, and risk taking on adolescent self-rated health.

Methods: This study uses data from the 2384 Canadian students in Grades 9-10 (56.5% female) from the World Health Organization's Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Survey 2001/2002, a nationwide representative sample.