NCJ Number
145786
Journal
School Intervention Report Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1993) Pages: 11- 18,20-21
Date Published
1993
Length
10 pages
Annotation
In focusing on rural areas, the author notes that alcohol and drug use rates for rural adolescents appear to be matching or even surpassing rates for urban adolescents.
Abstract
A 1982 study found that significantly more rural than urban students at all grade levels used alcoholic beverages, while more urban than rural students had tried marijuana. The 1990 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse revealed that more than 48 percent of youths between 12 and 17 years of age had tried alcohol at least once in their lifetime and that about 14.8 percent had tried marijuana. The 1987 National Adolescent School Health Survey showed that 77 percent of 8th grade students had used alcohol and that 89 percent of 10th grade students had drank an alcoholic beverage during the past month. Over 15 percent of 8th grade students reported having tried marijuana. The 1990 High School Senior Survey found that students in rural areas closed the prevalence gap between their metropolitan counterparts with respect to alcohol and drug use. Effective substance abuse programming is essential in rural areas, despite certain problems that tend to limit rural program effectiveness: lack of program acceptance by the rural community, lack of trained and experienced staff, relatively long distances clients and staff must travel to participate in or conduct programs, and high per client costs of rural programs. Rural women face several distinct difficulties in obtaining alcohol and other drug abuse services, especially when compared to female clients in urban settings. For example, rural women may not feel they can act as independently of their spouses as urban women. In addition, the inherent population density problem faced in rural areas has contributed to lack of funding for programs targeted at preventing and treating alcohol and other drug problems of rural youth. With the gap between urban and rural youth shifting, prevention and treatment efforts must also shift in response. 8 tables