Drug Use, Drinking, and Smoking: National Survey Results From High School, College, and Young Adult Populations, 1975-1988

• NCJ Number: 121454
• Author(s): L D Johnston; P M O'Malley; J G Bachman
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 399 pages
• Grant Number(s): 3 ROL-DA-01411
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Corporate Author: University of Michigan
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report -- the twelth in an annual series reporting the drug use and related attitudes of America's high school seniors, college students, and young adults -- covers the high school classes of 1975 through 1988.

Abstract

Eleven classes of drugs are distinguished in the report: marijuana (including hashish), inhalants, hallucinogens, cocaine, heroin, opiates other than heroin, stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers, alcohol, and tobacco. The report focuses on drug use at the higher frequency levels rather than on proportions who have ever used various drugs. The report describes the research design, sampling plans, and field procedures used in both the in-school surveys of seniors and the followup surveys of young adults. Related methodological issues such as response rates, population coverage, and the validity of the measures are also discussed. Data are based on self-report questionnaires. Findings show an appreciable decline in the use of a number of the illicit drugs among high school seniors over the eight years of the study and even larger declines in their use among college students and young adults. Drug use is still sufficiently high, however, to make illicit drug use among the study population the highest of any industrialized nation in the world. 55 tables, and 80 figures