Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2007: Volume I Secondary School Students

• NCJ Number: 224793
• Author(s): Lloyd D. Johnston Ph.D.; Patrick M. O'Malley Ph.D.; Jerald G. Bachman Ph.D.; John E. Schulenberg Ph.D.
• Date Published: September 2008
• Length: 738 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 DA 01411
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institutes of Health
• Corporate Author: University of Michigan
• Sale Source: National Institutes of Health
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Downloaded November 19, 2008

Annotation

This report provides data on trends in drug use among secondary school students (8th, 10th, and 12th grade students) for the years 1975-2007, based on the Monitoring the Future (MTF) initiative, which is an ongoing series of national surveys of American adolescents and adults regarding illegal drug use, alcohol use, tobacco use, anabolic steroid use, and psychotherapeutic drug use.

Abstract

The report notes that early in the 1990s, the MTF showed an increase in the use of several illicit drugs among secondary school students, as well as some important changes in key attitudes and beliefs related to drug use. The 1992 survey recorded the beginning of such reversals in both drug use and attitudes among 8th graders as well as 12th graders. The percentage of students perceiving great risk in using drugs began to decline, as did the percentage reporting they disapproved of drug use. The use of illicit drugs increased sharply in all three grades after 1992. This pattern continued into the mid-1990s, and beyond for some drugs. In 1997, for the first time in 6 years, the overall rate of illicit drug use began to decline among 8th graders, and although the use of marijuana continued to increase that year among the 10th and 12th graders, their use of several other drugs leveled off. Relevant attitudes and beliefs also began to reverse in many cases. Annual prevalence declined in all three grades in both 2006 and 2007, with the eighth grade decline in 2007 being statistically significant. In presenting the detailed data, this report distinguishes among important demographic subgroups 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 are reported in separate chapters. Extensive tables and figures, a subject index, and appended prevalence and trend estimates adjusted for absentees and dropouts, definition of background and demographic subgroups, estimation of sampling errors, trends by subgroup, and trends in specific subclasses of various drugs