Do Moral Agency for Aggressive Behavior and Low Peer Substance Use Protect Against Non-Substance Use Delinquency? A Cross-Lagged Analysis of Youth at High Risk for Delinquency

This study was designed to determine whether a reciprocal relationship exists between moral agency for aggressive behavior and low peer substance use in their effect on future non-substance use delinquency. Employing a sample of 850 youth (425 boys and 425 girls) from the Flint Adolescent Sample (FAS), high moral agency for aggressive behavior was cross-lagged with low peer substance use and the two crossed paths were then correlated with later delinquency. Results revealed that improved moral agency predicted decreased peer substance use, which then predicted a decrease in delinquency. The other cross-lag indirect effect was also significant, with lower peer substance use predicting improved moral agency, which, in turn, predicted decreased delinquency. The direct effects, by contrast, were nonsignificant.