Journal of Adolescence Journal of Adolescence 29 (2006) 829–836 Brief Report: School exclusion drug use and delinquency in adolescence Patrick McCrystal à , Kathryn Higgins, Andrew Percy Abstract Fifty-one young people aged 14–15 years considered to be at a high risk to substance abuse and exhibiting antisocial behavior, primarily because they longer attended mainstream school, participated in this research by completing a questionnaire to measure drug use and delinquent behaviour. The findings suggest that many of them may have already developed a high propensity to drug abuse and antisocial behaviour compared with their peers in mainstream education. As they were all excluded from school, they were not accessing school based prevention programmes delivered to their contemporaries at school suggesting that additional and specialized resources are required to fully meet their needs. r 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: School exclusion; Drug use; Delinquency Introduction We know less about the experience of young people excluded from school during adolescence than their peers who remain in school. This is despite the association between educational underachievement, social alienation, criminality and drug use (Audit Commission, 1996; Lloyd, 1998; Hayden & Martin, 1998; Miller & Plant, 1999; MORI, 2004; SEU, 1998). The Social Exclusion Unit included school exclusion among ‘‘the most severe forms of exclusion’’ (SEU, 2001, p. 15) with a link between school exclusion and social exclusion in later life generally ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/jado 0140-1971/$30.00 r 2006 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2006.05.006 à Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 2890 974613; fax: +44 2890 687416. E-mail address: p.mccrystal@qub.ac.uk (P. McCrystal).