Cocaine Use in a National Sample of U.S. Youth (NLSY): Ethnic Patterns, Progression, and Predictors (From Epidemiology of Cocaine Use and Abuse, 1991, P 151-188, Susan Schober and Charles Schade, eds. -- See NCJ-135854)

• NCJ Number: 135859
• Author(s): D B Kandel; M Davies
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 38 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA03525; DA00081; HD22194
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health,Education, and Welfare; National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data derived from a national sample of over 12,000 young American adults was used to determine the prevalence of cocaine use among young white, black, and Hispanic Americans; the order of initiation into the use of cocaine and other illicit drugs; and the predictors of cocaine use among young adults.

Abstract

Three principle areas of findings emerged, relating to the sequential order of involvement with different drugs, the role of sexual experimentation as a precursor to cocaine use, and the differential role of family-related factors among men and women. This study found that most young adult cocaine users began their experimentation with marijuana, moved to other illicit drugs, and then made the transition to cocaine. This finding held true for all ethnic groups and for both men and women. Participation in certain activities, including marijuana use and early sexual experimentation, emerged as crucial risk factors for progression to cocaine. Young adults who used cocaine were more sexually active than young adults who did not. A broken home in adolescence was a risk factor for subsequent cocaine involvement among males, but not among females; the risk was about the same for minority youths as for whites. 1 figure, 17 tables, 5 notes, 62 references, and 1 appendix