Lay summary
The proposed research will examine the extent to which alcohol misuse amongst young adults in New Zealand leads to increasing levels of criminal behaviour, violence, intimate partner violence, and motor vehicle offences. The research will address these issues by using data from two major New Zealand longitudinal studies. The data provided by these studies permits examination of several measures of alcohol consumption and misuse, and the linkages between alcohol misuse and measures of antisocial behaviour. The links between these factors will be examined from late adolescence into adulthood, using advanced data-analytic methods applicable to longitudinal data. These analyses will provide estimates of the extent to which alcohol misuse causes antisocial behaviour across the life course and will examine possible age and gender differences in these causal links. The results of the research will make a strong contribution to the knowledge base regarding the reduction of alcohol-related harm in New Zealand.