Study Links Adolescent Risk-Taking to Marital Behaviors

New research from the University of Buffalo indicates that teenagers who exhibit signs of delinquent behavior marry earlier than their peers, and those who use marijuana and alcohol tend to marry later.

Researcher Sampson Blair looked at data from a U.S. Department of Education Survey of 9,813 adolescents conducted between 1988 and 2000, and found that delinquency — defined as anti-social behavior like running away from home, being arrested, engaging in physical fights and/or having behavioral problems — was predictive of adolescents of both sexes marrying at a younger age for their first marriage. Adolescents — especially female adolescents — who used alcohol or marijuana were less likely to marry — even by their late 20s — researchers found.

The results suggest that delinquency and alcohol and other drug use may impact adolescent’s thinking regarding other types of adult roles as well, Blair said. The findings are significant because marriage is considered to convey substantial economic, social, and health advantages , he said.

“Additional research is needed to learn how developmental processes of adolescence are affected by delinquent behavior and substance abuse and the relative influences of these sex-based differences on other forms of adult status attainment,” Blair said.

The study’s results were presented at the March 2009 conference of the Eastern Sociological Society in Baltimore, Maryland.