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66 Int. J. Offender Therapy & Comp. Criminology 3 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/ijotcc66 and id is 1 raw text is: Article International Journal of . Offender Therapy and Unstructured Socializing with Comparate Crinology 2022, Vol. 66(1) 3-27 Peers, Low Self-Control, and ©TheAuthor(s)2020 Article reuse guidelines: Substance Use sagepubcom/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1 177/0306624X20967939 journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo OSAGE Anna Leimberg' and Peter S. Lehmann2 Abstract Research consistentlyfinds that unstructured socializingwith peers and low self-control are both positively associated with substance use among adolescents. However, largely absent from the literature is a consideration of whether unstructured socializing with peers and low self-control have differential and interactive effects when predicting usage of different classifications of drugs. The current study addresses these issues using data collected on a statewide sample of middle school and high school students who participated in the 2017 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. Results indicate that (1) unstructured socializing with peers is a stronger predictor of soft drug use than low self-control, (2) low self-control is a stronger predictor of hard drug use than unstructured socializing with peers, and (3) the effect of unstructured socializing on both soft and hard drug use is diminished among adolescents who are lower in self-control. Keywords unstructured socializing with peers, low self-control, FYSAS, drug use, interactive effects Introduction Previous research has thoroughly investigated the routine activity perspective, which attempts to explain the relationship between opportunity and crime (Kennedy et al., 1990; Lotz & Lee, 1999; Lynch, 1987; Reyns et al., 2011). Similarly, criminologists also have given ample consideration to whether a key cause of crime is low self-control 'Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA 2Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA Corresponding Author: Anna Leimberg, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International University, 11200 Southwest 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, USA. Email: Aleimber@fiu.edu