NCJ Number
131351
Journal
Journal of Health and Social Behavior Volume: 29 Dated: (March 1988) Pages: 92-112
Date Published
1988
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Employing data from 11 annual surveys of high school seniors from 1976 through 1986, two alternative explanations for the decline in marijuana use are explored.
Abstract
One view claims that young people have become more conservative about marijuana use, and the other purports that specific changes in views about marijuana have contributed to the decrease. Data were collected via quesionnaires dealing with marijuana use, perceived risks of marijuana, and personal disapproval of marijuana use and were examined through bivariate and multivariate analysis. Lifestyle factors such as religious commitment, truancy, and evenings away from home were strongly linked to individual differences in marijuana use. However, these variables did not account for the recent decline in marijuana use. Both perceived risks and personal disapproval of marijuana use, especially regular use, have increased sharply since 1978. Both analyses indicate that in the presence of controls either for perception of risks or for disapproval, the recent secular trend in marijuana use disappears. The data suggest that without an increase in negative attitudes about marijuana, lower levels of marijuana use would not have been found in each succeeding class of high school seniors since 1979. On the basis of the identified link between attitudes toward drugs and drug use, education about risks and consequences of drug abuse is recommended as a method for drug prevention. 2 figures, 4 tables, 8 notes, and 40 references (Author abstract modified)