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Background: Drugs and crime are linked and diversion from the criminal justice system into drug treatment is a well-established policy response. The point of arrest is a pivotal moment to initiate a drug-specific intervention. This paper assesses the impact of the introduction of drug testing on arrest (DToA) into a low crime area in England. Our mixed methods study analysed performance data collected by the National Drug Treatment Monitoring/Drug Test Recorder datasets and feedback from a series of semi-structured interviews with both clients and professionals. Results: In total, 2210 people were tested 2861 times of which 42.0% (n = 928) tested positive. Of those, 3% subsequently engaged with effective treatment. However, throughout the criminal justice system, treatment engagements increased year on year from 20% (n = 77) to 26% (n = 131). Clients (n = 19) and professionals (n = 14) reported that DToA was an acceptable/tolerable addition to the treatment pathway. Interviews suggested that the point of arrest may help primary desistance from further offending. Conclusions: The staggered introduction of the DToA made direct measure of impact difficult and there appears to have been a 'displacement' effect in response to the extra investment. However, DToA appears to have contributed towards an overall uplift in criminal justice drug treatment system performance activities (identification, assessment, referral etc.) and may have served to help strengthen care pathways. Barriers were noted about engagement with DToA by entrenched opiate users, suggesting that the effectiveness of DToA was limited within that group. This study is the first to investigate the impact of the introduction of DToA into a low crime area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes insights into the role of tenure in modifying the relationship between housing affordability and health, using a cross-national comparison of similar post-industrial nations—Australia and the United Kingdom—with different tenure structures. The paper utilises longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey and British Household Panel Survey to examine change in the mental health of individuals associated with housing becoming unaffordable and considers modification by tenure. We present evidence that the role of tenure in the relationship between housing and health is context dependent and should not be unthinkingly generalised across nations. These findings suggest that the UK housing context offers a greater level of protection to tenants living in unaffordable housing when compared with Australia, and this finds expression in the mental health of the two populations. We conclude that Australian governments could improve the mental health of their economically vulnerable populations through more supportive housing policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an abundance of evidence supporting a cross-sectional association between poor housing and poor health, but relatively few studies have examined the relationship between housing and health over time. Using contemporary longitudinal data from seven yearly waves (1996-2002) of the British Household Panel Survey, summary statistics and multivariate first-differences regression models, this study provides robust evidence of a dynamic relationship between housing conditions and health. Worsening housing conditions, measured in three domains, are independently associated with deterioration in health, especially the number of reported health problems in women. These findings add to the longitudinal evidence of the effect of housing conditions. It is concluded that improvements in housing conditions produce health benefits and the findings are important for proposed housing interventions to maximise health benefits and prioritise areas of housing investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of research has identified several predisposing characteristics associated with young parenthood, as well as a host of undesirable outcomes resulting from an early first birth. Using data from a large cohort of British births, we confirm that men and women who enter parenthood before 20 are more likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, have childhood behavioural problems, come from large families, and themselves been born to young mothers. We use the conventional method of examining the socio-economic outcomes associated with an early birth and find, like many others, that compared to individuals who delayed their first birth, individuals who entered parenthood before age 20 fared less well on several outcomes later in life. We then use an instrumental variable technique to account for selection into young parenthood and find that the characteristics that predict young parenthood already points such people towards poorer socio-economic outcomes in later life, such that the failure to delay a first birth can largely be regarded as inconsequential. We also note that after selection into young parenthood has been accounted for, no gender differences in socio-economic outcomes are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing role for chosen friends is a key element in current debates on individualization and the transformation of intimacy. This paper describes the changes in friendship choices over time and demonstrates how life events subsequently impact on those choices. We primarily distinguish between kin and non-kin nominations of friends and how these may be related to the social and economic turbulence inherent in late modernity. Analyses of data from ten years of the British Household Panel Survey showed that kin nominations still form a significant proportion of all friends but increasingly so with age and over time as people age. Life events, such as divorce or death of a partner, have large effects on the likelihood of changes in friendship choices as did gender, age, marital status and social class. We frame these results in a discussion of the saliency and nature of friendship at stages of the life course and conclude that the case for a general secular shift to choosing non-kin friendships rather than kin-based friendship is not demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses information on British women born in 1970, collected at birth and ages 5, 10 and 30, and pregnancy histories at age 30, including miscarriages, to estimate average causal effects of having a first birth before age 20 on `partnership outcomes' at age 30 for women who had such a birth. Following the methods developed by Hotz et al, the effects can be bounded under relatively weak conditions, and a consistent instrumental variable estimator exists under stronger conditions. The results suggest that a teen-birth causes a woman to fare worse in the marriage market, greatly increasing her chances of partnering with poorly educated and unemployment-prone men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]