NCJ Number
167725
Date Published
1995
Length
57 pages
Annotation
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America's parent tracking study interviewed 1,061 parents in 1993 and 822 parents in 1995 to survey their attitudes toward drug use and the use of drugs by children under 19 years of age.
Abstract
Parents generally had negative attitudes toward drugs. The prevalence of negative attitudes was stable between 1993 and 1995; 8 of 10 parents said they were scared to use drugs. Two-thirds of parents believed they were likely to try marijuana, and more than half said they were aware of increased discussions about drug legalization. Parents believed that inhalant use was nearly as risky as cocaine and crack use. By 1995, 6 of 10 parents had tried marijuana sometime in their lives but recent use was much lower. Levels of using cocaine, crack, LSD, heroin, and ecstasy were low and did not change significantly between 1993 and 1995. When it came to their children, nearly all parents were strongly antidrug and believed their children knew what to do if offered drugs. Parents of teenagers were accurate in their estimates of teenage perceptions about the risk of regularly using marijuana, cocaine, and crack but overestimated teenage perceptions about the risk of trying these drugs. Parents of teenagers were likely to underestimate the prevalence of marijuana use among friends of their teenagers, to underestimate the likelihood of their children having been offered drugs, and to underestimate the availability of marijuana to their children. While virtually all parents said they talked to their teenagers about drugs, only about 75 percent of teenagers indicated their parents talked to them. Parents strongly believed they were responsible for educating their children about drugs. Demographic data on survey respondents are tabulated. 34 tables