Skip to main content
NCBI home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1981 Jan;71(1):59–69. doi: 10.2105/ajph.71.1.59

Smoking, drinking, and drug use among American high school students: correlates and trends, 1975-1979.

J G Bachman, L D Johnston, P M O'Malley
PMCID: PMC1619690  PMID: 6973285

Abstract

This paper uses findings from five nationally representative surveys of high school seniors from 1975 through 1979 to examine the correlates of licit and illicit drug use, and to consider whether recent changes in youthful drug use are linked to any changes in the correlates. Males still exceed females in use of alcohol and marijuana, but no longer in cigarette smoking. Black seniors now report less drug use than Whites. Other dimensions of family background, region, and urbanicity show only modest associations with drug use. Above average drug use occurs among those less successful in adaptation to the educational environment, as indicated by truancy and low grades; those who spend many evenings out for recreation; and those with heavy time commitments to a job and/or relatively high incomes. Drug use is below average among seniors with strong religious commitments and conservative political views. From 1975 through 1979, among seniors cigarette use peaked and subsequently declined, marijuana use rose and then leveled off, and the (still infrequent) use of cocaine rose rapidly. However, these shifts in drug use were not accompanied by substantial shifts in the above correlates of use. The findings thus suggest that the kinds of young people most at risk remain much the same, while the types and amounts of substances they use shift somewhat from year to year.

Full text

PDF
59

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Braucht G. N., Brakarsh D., Follingstad D., Berry K. L. Deviant drug use in adolescence: a review of psychosocial correlates. Psychol Bull. 1973 Feb;79(2):92–106. doi: 10.1037/h0034006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Gorsuch R. L., Butler M. C. Initial drug abuse: a review of predisposing social psychological factors. Psychol Bull. 1976 Jan;83(1):120–137. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Jessor R., Chase J. A., Donovan J. E. Psychosocial correlates of marijuana use and problem drinking in a national sample of adolescents. Am J Public Health. 1980 Jun;70(6):604–613. doi: 10.2105/ajph.70.6.604. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Jessor R., Jessor S. L., Finney J. A social psychology of marijuana use: longitudinal studies of high school and college youth. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1973 Apr;26(1):1–15. doi: 10.1037/h0034214. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Johnston L. D. Drug use during and after high school: results of a national longitudinal study. Am J Public Health. 1974 Dec;64 (Suppl 12):29–37. doi: 10.2105/ajph.64.12_suppl.29. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kandel D. Reaching the hard-to-reach: illicit drug use among high school absentees. Addict Dis. 1975;1(4):465–480. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kandel D., Single E., Kessler R. C. The epidemiology of drug use among New York State high school students: Distribution, trends, and change in rates of use. Am J Public Health. 1976 Jan;66(1):43–53. doi: 10.2105/ajph.66.1.43. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. McGlothlin W. H. Drug use and abuse. Annu Rev Psychol. 1975;26:45–64. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ps.26.020175.000401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Single E., Kandel D., Faust R. Patterns of multiple drug use in high school. J Health Soc Behav. 1974 Dec;15(4):344–357. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES