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Because a wide variety of deviant behaviors are positively correlated with one another, some researchers conclude that all are manifestations of a single general tendency. The present analysis incorporated three waves of self-reports about heavy alcohol use, marijuana use, use of other illicit drugs, dangerous driving, and other criminal behavior for a nationally representative sample of high school seniors. A relatively stable general involvement in deviance accounted for virtually all association between different types of deviance, but the stability of each behavior could only be explained by equally important and stable specific influences. Thus, theories that treat different deviant behaviors as alternative manifestations of a single general tendency can account for some, but far from all, of the meaningful variance in these behaviors, The only significant influence of one type of deviance on another was that of marijuana use on later use of other illicit drugs. The causal model also revealed interpretable shifts in the associations among these behaviors over the four years following high school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposes of this study were to identify trajectory groups of frequent marijuana use during emerging adulthood; distinguish among trajectory groups according to demographic and lifestyle characteristics; and examine how the trajectory groups relate to behavioral, attitudinal, and social-emotional correlates over time. National panel data from the Monitoring the Future study were used: 18 cohorts of high school seniors (classes of 1977-1994) were followed biennially through age 24. Frequent marijuana use was defined as 3+ occasions of use in past month and/or 20 to 40+ occasions in past year. Based on four waves of complete longitudinal data (N=19,952), six frequent marijuana use trajectory groups were identified: chronic, decreased, increased, fling, rare, and abstain. Categorical analyses revealed trajectory group differences in demographic and lifestyle characteristics at senior year and age 24. The trajectory groups varied significantly in longitudinal patterns of other substance use, problem behaviors, and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]