Differences in Offending Behaviors, Aggression, Substance Use, and Mental Health Problems between Male Drug Dealers and Non-Drug Dealers in Belgian Youth Detention Centers

Athina Bisback; Wouter Vanderplasschen; Olivier F Colins

doi:10.3390/ijerph192416390

Differences in Offending Behaviors, Aggression, Substance Use, and Mental Health Problems between Male Drug Dealers and Non-Drug Dealers in Belgian Youth Detention Centers

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 7;19(24):16390. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416390.

Authors

Athina Bisback¹, Wouter Vanderplasschen¹, Olivier F Colins^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Special Needs Education at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
² Center for Criminological and Psychosocial Research, Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden.

Abstract

This study investigated whether drug dealing juvenile offenders in Belgium differ from non-drug dealers in levels of violent and non-violent offending behaviors, aggression, substance use, and mental health needs. The current study examined data from 226 16- to 17-year-old male juvenile offenders. Information relating to drug dealing, substance use, and mental health needs were collected through self-report questionnaires. A structured diagnostic interview was used to collect information about past violent and non-violent behaviors. Chi-square tests and multivariate analysis of variance compared non-dealers and dealers and explored if hard-drug dealers and soft-drug dealers differed from each other. Relative to non-drug dealers, drug dealers engaged in more violent offending behaviors, exhibited higher levels of aggression, substance use and oppositional defiant problems, and displayed lower levels of anxiety. Soft- and hard-drug dealers did not differ from each other. To conclude, detained drug dealers are characterized by severe antisocial behavior.

Keywords: adolescent offenders; drug dealing; mental health; substance use; violence.

Publication types

Case Reports
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Aggression
Belgium / epidemiology
Criminals* / psychology
Humans
Jails
Juvenile Delinquency* / psychology
Male
Mental Health
Substance-Related Disorders* / epidemiology
Violence

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) Odysseus Grant (G0H7818N). The funding source had no involvement in the preparation of the manuscript nor study design.