NCJ Number
178156
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: 1998 Pages: 211-233
Date Published
1998
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This analysis examines the use of alcohol by 535 adolescents in Dade County, FL, public schools during 1992.
Abstract
Statistically significant factors that tend to increase the probability of alcohol use by adolescents included the fact that their friends drink, their awareness of the risks associated with the use of alcohol, and their ease in obtaining alcohol. Not significantly related to alcohol use were a number of other variables, including family-related variables, e.g., whether adolescents lived with their mothers, with their fathers, or alone, and whether someone in the family had a problem with drugs or alcohol. Similarly, early cigarette smoking did not serve as a gateway to later alcohol use. Religion, gender, race, academic performance, and extracurricular school activities were all unrelated to the use of alcohol by adolescents. Although the typical adolescent who consumed alcohol was older (in grades 9 through 12), this was not a significant variable. Table, references