‘I Should Have Known Better’: Adolescent Decision-Making, Alcohol Use, and Delinquency

Prior research indicates that young people who engage in thoughtful and reflective decision-making (TRDM) are less prone to criminal and delinquent behavior, although certain factors (e.g., stress, lack of sleep) can undermine the crime preventive effect of TRDM. We build on this research by examining the possibility that adolescent alcohol use may also undermine the relationship between TRDM and youth crime. Drawing on data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents, we conduct negative binomial regression analyses and test for interaction effects between TRDM and alcohol use. The results indicate that frequent heavy drinking tends to weaken the crime preventive effect of TRDM, although no such effect emerged when the sheer frequency of alcohol was the focus of our analyses. Implications for adolescent decision-making, alcohol use, and crime prevention are discussed.