Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2000; Volume I: Secondary School Students

• NCJ Number: 191251
• Author(s): Lloyd D. Johnston Ph.D.; Patrick M. O'Malley Ph.D.; Jerald G. Bachman Ph.D.
• Date Published: August 2001
• Length: 492 pages
• Grant Number(s): 3R01 DA 01411
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Corporate Author: University of Michigan
• Sale Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents the methodology and findings of national surveys ("Monitoring the Future") of drug use among secondary school students for the years 1975-2000.

Abstract

Data from high school seniors have been collected during the spring of each year beginning with the class of 1975, and data have been collected from eighth-grade and tenth-grade students each year since 1991. Each year's data collection was conducted in between 123 to 146 public and private high schools selected to provide an accurate representative cross-section of high school seniors throughout the coterminous United States. The findings presented in this report focused on the prevalence and frequency of the use of various drugs among American secondary school students (specifically, in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades) and trends in use by those students. Distinctions were made among important demographic subgroups in these populations based on gender, college plans, region of the country, population density, parents' education, and race/ethnicity. Data on grade of first use, trends in use at lower grade levels, and intensity of drug use also were reported in three separate chapters. Key attitudes and beliefs about use of the various drugs are demonstrated by this study to be important determinants of trends in use over time; therefore, they were also tracked over time, as were students' perceptions of certain relevant aspects of the social environment, particularly perceived availability, peer norms, use by friends, and exposure to use. The surveys distinguished 11 separate classes of drugs: marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, cocaine, heroin, opiates other than heroin, stimulants, sedatives, tranquilizers, alcohol, and tobacco. Separate statistics are presented for several subclasses of drugs within these more general classes. Extensive tables and figures and appended supplementary tables, methodological details, and trends in prevalence rates for specific drugs within general classes