NCJ Number
91674
Journal
Contemporary Drug Problems Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1982) Pages: 75-100
Date Published
1982
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study examined four mutually exclusive groups of adolescents regarding their levels of involvement with the use of licit (cigarettes, alcohol) and illicit (cannabis, hard drugs) substances in junior high school (Time 1) and 3 years later in high school (Time 2).
Abstract
Self report data were obtained from 1,474 students, first in grades 7, 8, and 9 and then in grades 10, 11, and 12. Subjects in Group 1 reported nonuse of licit and illicit substances both at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2). Members of the other three groups showed escalation in use between T1 and T2. Transition was from nonuse to use of cigarettes or alcohol (Group 2); from nonuse of cannabis to infrequent use (Group 3); and from nonuse of cannabis to frequent use (Group 4). Differences among the four groups were sought on each of six T1 psychosocial variables: a self-report personality scale called 'obedient, law-abiding'; peer rating measures of personality called 'obedient' and 'sociable'; grade point average; attitude toward smoking; and an empirically derived weighted average of the first five variables. The four groups were compared in the total sample and in subsamples defined by sex and high school grade level at T2. Results indicate that personality and other psychosocial variables are dependably related to adolescent substance use -- both licit and illicit; that status on those psychosocial variables, prior to onset of use, predicts likelihood of later use; that the psychosocial variables predictive of illicit use are also predictive of licit use; and that the strength of the psychosocial predisposition is greater among adolescents who will escalate to illicit use than among those who will stop short of illicit use. Tables, 19 notes, and excerpts from the study instrument are given.