An area where I believe all individuals should be involved, if they truly wish to curb down the use of drugs and criminal behavior, is in implementing more after school programs that offer extracurricular activities. There is compelling evidence to build more after school centers that are funded and supported by all within the community. One of those reasons is that according to Gruman & et. al., (2021), it is proven that access to extracurricular centers help reduce antisocial and delinquent behavior in early childhood. So why should we all contribute to this, and why should we all be involved in one way or another?
The case to adopt and fund more extracurricular centers should be as easy as asking a simple question. Do I care about reducing drug consumption, helping those in need of role models, mentors, and the overall safety of their neighborhood? Do I care if children associate with those who consume drugs or participate in crime related activities? How do I help other parents who want and need help raising their children? These are all important questions that should be asked before a comprehensive intervention is developed and subsequently implemented.
According to Gruman & et. al., (2021), one of the risk factors in the General personality and social psychological model of criminal behavior, is the association of pro-criminal peers and isolation of noncriminal behavior. Another factor is the poor leisure time and the lack of prosocial leisure pursuits and recreational activities, and lastly lack of effective parental monitoring (Gruman & et. al., 2021). Although, there are only 2 out of the 8 risk factors being addressed, I believe this is sufficient to make an impact. Based on three risk factors alone, I believe we should advocate to build and fund more extracurricular centers with the necessary resources.
If we follow the General Personality and Social Psychological model of criminal behavior as a guide to implement these centers, with the appropriate staff, we can prevent some of the crime and drug usage early on. Of course, there are certain financial implication that must be well known and addressed early on. This is necessary to understand the long-term benefits. Community involvement is critical to the support of such programs due to the social economic disparities within communities, and the lack of resources within certain household, who are unable to afford discretionary income to support this (Weininger & et al., 2105).Additionally, we should consider the importance of volunteers that could serve as role models, mentors to help and guide others. After all it takes a village to raise a child.
The benefits of implementing such intervention strategy are beneficial to all members of the community but especially to our youth. Not only do we provide an avenue by which to take a non-conducive environment and those external negative influence out of the equation, but we are providing an avenue by which to enrich the children’s lives. For starters, school-based extracurricular activities have been associated with lower levels of substance use among adolescents Moilanen & et al., 2015). Extracurricular activities have been linked to positive school performance, better college performance, and increased elite job prospects (Weininger & et al., 2105). From an economical perspective, this has implication both in the long term and short term. Short term effects mean we are reducing the number of potential crimes, reducing drug trafficking by reducing drug consumption, and taking away those external factors that influence such behavior (Moilanen & et al., 2015). The Long terms costs are truly costly, it is reported that most states spend an average of $588 per day or $214,620 per year. If only we would take a prevent stance and not a reactionary one.
While reducing the usage of drugs and the proliferation of drugs is dire, this is only possible, if we can address another risk factor of General Personality and Social Psychological. Having and obtaining the necessary experts to help parents with the necessary skills to raise their children. After all parents should be the first social support that children receive. As such they should be empowered with the skills and tools necessary to educate their children. There is no shortage of studies that validate this fact (Valente & et. al., 2017) For this reason alone, the necessary resources should be easily attainable and available to those communities that need it most. The amount of compelling evidence that shows the correlation between parenting skills, and the lower consumption of drugs use is astonishing (Valente & et. al., 2017).
As with any effort that requires large amounts of resources and a national movement to effectively implement these strategies, it is necessary to obtain the constituents buy in. The cost, time, effort, and dedication to implement is not an easy hill to climb but a mountain that must be climbed one step at a time. Many may ask if this is all worth it, but the more and more kids, adolescents consume and become addicted to illegal substances the more society must pay for. The cost is not just monetary but also emotional for some and worse for others.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology : Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
Weininger, E.B., Lareau, A., & Conley, D. (2015). What Money Doesn’t Buy: Class Resources and Children’s Participation in Organized Extracurricular Activities. Social Forces 94(2), 479-503. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/600815.
Moilanen, K. L., Markstrom, C. A., & Jones, E. (2014). Extracurricular activity availability and participation and substance use among american indian adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 43(3), 454-69. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0088-1
Valente, J. Y., Cogo-Moreira, H., & Sanchez, Z. M. (2017). Gradient of association between parenting styles and patterns of drug use in adolescence: A latent class analysis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 180, 272–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.08.015
Research archive. Justice Policy Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved March 4, 2023, from https://justicepolicy.org/research/?page=1&keywords=&sort=desc&cat=all