NCJ Number
165111
Journal
Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: (1996) Pages: 21-36
Date Published
1996
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Using data from the 1991 and 1992 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate the relative risk of initiating non-medical drug use by 12- to 17-year-old adolescents living in families without both biological parents present compared to those living with both biological parents.
Abstract
The analyses reported in this paper were based on the survey responses of the 15,259 participants aged 12-17 years (8,005 in 1991 and 7,254 in 1992). To minimize the impact of non-medical drug use among adolescents on family structure, respondents were excluded if they reported initiating non-medical drug use before their current age minus 1 year. With this exclusion, there remained 13,648 individuals at risk for initiating non-medical drug use in this interval (7,053 in 1991 and 6,595 in 1992). Non- medical drug use refers to non-medical use of cocaine/crack, marijuana, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, stimulants, tranquilizers, sedatives, and/or analgesics. Multiple logistic regression models in the conditional form were used to assess the association between family structure and initiating non-medical drug use, holding constant other suspected confounding variables. To hold constant unmeasured socio-environmental confounding factors, the study used an epidemiological strategy that involved post-stratification of adolescents into neighborhood risk sets. The findings show that adolescents living in families without both parents were more likely to initiative non-medical drug use, but these associations varied by sex. These results help measure the impact of divorce/separation/death and/or remarriage of parents on adolescents and identify subgroups at higher risk for initiating non-medical drug use. 2 tables and 58 references