[Drug abuse in adolescent offenders: analysis of the psychosocial variables involved]

Research shows that drugs and delinquency are frequently linked, the abuse of various types of substance being a widespread practice among young offenders. At the same time, some psychosocial characteristics are associated with both drug abuse and criminal/antisocial behavior. To help us explore the relationship between young offenders' drug abuse and certain psychosocial variables, we examined closed judicial files on young offenders from the Juvenile Justice Service in Jaen (Spain) corresponding to the period 2001 to 2010. From the contents of these judicial files we analyzed demographic variables such as gender and age, as well as psychosocial variables such as drug abuse, peer group, violent behavior, self-control, tolerance to frustration and attributional style. The results show that most of the young offenders use some type of drug, as well as revealing differential patterns of use according to gender. Also observed is a link between drug abuse and deviant peer group, violent behavior and the above-mentioned psychological variables. Finally, we found some differences in these psychological variables depending on the type of drug used.