their efforts to compute a logistic regression could not be performed successfully due to ôsmall sample size and missing casesö (Lennings, et al. 2003, p. 416). The results of the research demonstrated that for nearly all categories of substance use, ôthose admitting to violent criminal behavior reported higher levels of substance abuse than those not admitting to violent criminal behaviorö (Lennings, et al. 2003, p. 416). The researchers constructed their study to assess if the elements of the Goldstein hypothesis were valid. The Goldstein hypothesis argues that substance use leads to violent crime in one of the following three ways:
Psycho-pharmacological violence: The effects of the substance directly facilitate violent acts.
Economically compulsive violence: The need to support the substance use motivates crimes of instrumental violence like robbery.
Systemic violence: The system of substance distribution and drug consumption creates conflicts resolved by violence.
The authorsÆ results led them to conclude that the Goldstein hypothesis is valid and supported by their results. The use of self-report data calls into question the reliability and validity of the authorsÆ research, considering that self-report answers may not be truthful or representative of actual substance use or acts of violence among the sample population. The variables of sadness or pessimistic thoughts about the future were combined into a single scale of ônegative affectö to provide a rating of self-esteem (Lennings, et al. 2003, p. 417). Another composite variable was constructed by combining two other questionnaire items, whether or not the participants had been subjected to physical or verbal violence. The results of the study found that while substance use does have a positive correlation to engaging in acts of violence, there was no significant relationship between negative affect and the likelihood of committing violent offenses. ...