NCJ Number
177029
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: 1999 Pages: 25-39
Date Published
1999
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article reports the findings of a study of drug and alcohol use among a sample of middle school students.
Abstract
Recent statistics show a decrease in the overall use of drugs and alcohol in the general US population. However, adolescents' use of drugs and alcohol is increasing. Because use of drugs and alcohol can have serious implications for adolescents' physical, emotional and social development, it is important that human service practitioners understand the factors that influence young people's substance use in order to develop interventions to deal with the problem. This study examined the relationships between substance use, social support and other psychosocial factors for 779 adolescents who attended middle schools in a large city in the southwest United States. By far, the most important predictor of whether or not the early adolescent subjects used alcohol or drugs was the number of their family members or friends who used drugs or alcohol. Tables, figures, references