Age of Crime/Substance Onset and Crime/Drug Versatility as Dimensions of the “Worst of Both Worlds” Effect

• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403415587553
• Author: Glenn D. Walters
• Subject Matter: Articles

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2016, Vol. 27(7) 668 –683

© 2015 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403415587553

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Article

Age of Crime/Substance

Onset and Crime/Drug

Versatility as Dimensions of

the “Worst of Both Worlds”

Effect

Glenn D. Walters1

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether age of crime and substance use

onset and prior crime and substance versatility (variety of crimes committed or drugs

used) could help define the “worst of both worlds” effect. Analyses were conducted

on 2,539 children and young adults from a nationally representative sample of private

households in England and Wales. As predicted, the early onset crime/substance

group achieved the worst future crime and substance outcomes, the late onset crime/

substance group achieved the second worst outcomes, the crime or substance alone

group achieved the third worst outcomes, and the no crime and substance group

achieved the best outcomes. Likewise, the high crime/drug versatility group achieved

the worst outcomes, the low crime/drug versatility group achieved the second worst

outcomes, the crime or drug alone group achieved the third worst outcomes, and the

no crime and drug group achieved the best outcomes.

Keywords

“worst of both worlds” hypothesis, age of onset, versatility

That crime and substance abuse are connected is beyond dispute (Fazel, Bains, & Doll,

2006; Hammersley, 2008; Walters, 2014d). The nature and implications of this rela-

tionship, however, are something we know very little about (Bennett & Holloway,

2009). Research on prison populations suggests that much of the world-wide growth

1Kutztown University, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Glenn D. Walters, Department of Criminal Justice, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530-0730,

USA.

Email: walters@kutztown.edu

587553CJPXXX10.1177/0887403415587553Criminal Justice Policy ReviewWalters

research-article2015

Walters 669

in prison populations in recent years has been the result of an increase in criminal

behavior on the part of those who use illicit substances (U.S. Government Accountability

Office, 2012; Walmsey, 2005). Research conducted on state, federal, and jail inmates

demonstrates that inmates with significant substance abuse histories normally present

with higher levels of prior criminality than inmates without significant substance

abuse histories (Karberg & James, 2005; Mumola & Karberg, 2006). Ruiz, Pincus, and

Schinka (2008) uncovered several interesting results in a meta-analysis of substance

misuse, antisocial personality disorder, and the five-factor model of personality.

Respondents presenting with comorbid substance misuse and antisocial personality

disorder achieved significantly higher scores on the neuroticism dimension of the five-

factor model and significantly lower scores on the agreeableness and conscientious-

ness dimensions compared with respondents with either substance misuse or antisocial

personality disorder alone. There is also evidence that ongoing criminal involvement

may interfere with substance misusers’ natural tendency to mature out of substance

misuse (Anglin, Brecht, Woodward, & Bonett, 1986) and that ongoing substance

involvement may interfere with offenders’ natural tendency to mature out of crime

(Welte, Barnes, Hoffman, Wieczorek, & Zhang, 2005). These different lines of

research are the foundation of the “worst of both worlds” hypothesis.

The “worst of both worlds” hypothesis states that individuals with histories of

comorbid crime and substance use will experience poorer future outcomes than indi-

viduals with histories of crime or substance use alone and individuals with no history

of crime or substance use. This hypothesis has been tested and confirmed in samples

of male and female adjudicated delinquents (Walters, 2014a), male and female general

population respondents (Walters, 2014b), and male (Walters, 2015) and female

(Walters & Magaletta, 2015) prison inmates. In these studies, the “worst of both

worlds” effect was measured by means of the frequency and/or severity of prior crimi-

nal and drug involvement. Because the “worst of both worlds” effect has been found

to be cumulative rather than interactive (Walters, 2015; Walters & Magaletta, 2015) it

makes more sense to organize the crime–substance comorbidity effect into dimensions

rather than into categories. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether

age of crime/substance onset and crime/drug versatility could serve as dimensions of

the “worst of both worlds” effect. With this in mind separate analyses were conducted

on a single data set using continuous models of crime–substance comorbidity created

from age of onset and versatility variables. The research question in this study was

whether continuous models based on age of onset and versatility data were capable of

predicting future criminal offending, frequency of drug use, and alcohol-related

problems.

In the first study to examine the “worst of both worlds” hypothesis, Walters (2014a)

discovered that previously adjudicated male and female delinquents with comorbid

involvement in crime and substance misuse achieved significantly poorer outcomes on

several adjustment measures compared with delinquents who were only involved in

crime or only misused substances. Prospective analyses from the Walters (2014a)

study revealed that the comorbid group was more likely to experience problems with

future offending and substance misuse than the crime only and substance only groups.