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Cigarettes, Booze, Drugs, and the Honor Roll
(?)
A review of
The Education–Drug Use Connection: How Successes and
Failures in School Relate to Adolescent Smoking, Drinking, Drug
Use, and Delinquency
by Jerald C. Bachman, Patrick M. O'Malley, John E. Schulenberg,
Lloyd D. Johnston, Peter Freedman-Doan, and Emily E. Messersmith
New York: Psychology Press, 2008. 435 pp. ISBN 978-0-8058-6170-9
(hardcover); ISBN 978-0-8058-6171-6 (paperback). $79.95,
hardcover; $39.95, paperback
Reviewed by
Liz Sale
As parents, many of us worry about the future of our teenagers. They might be getting good
grades in middle school, and, for the most part, they don't get into trouble. But what if they
start hanging around the “wrong” kids in high school? The ones who fight, skip school,
drink, smoke, and use drugs? Will our kids act out, too? And if they do, how will it affect
them as young adults? Can they succeed academically despite their “problem” behaviors in
high school?
After reading The Education–Drug Use Connection: How Successes and Failures in
School Relate to Adolescent Smoking, Drinking, Drug Use, and Delinquency, I am
persuaded that as long as our kids succeed in school early on, their chances of academic
success as young adults are fairly good, regardless of the trouble they might get into during
their adolescence. On the other hand, we really do need to worry if they're not doing so well
in school early on. They have a greater chance of smoking, drinking, or using drugs as
adolescents, all of which have negative health consequences. They are more apt to get into
trouble—to fight, steal, destroy property, and so forth. And ultimately they will be less likely
to do well academically as young adults.
The authors' conclusions are drawn from a longitudinal study of students with data
from the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future (MTF), a national survey of
adolescent behaviors. Starting in 1991 and 1993, thousands of eighth-graders were followed
over an eight-year period until they reached the age of 22. Students reported their grade
point averages; cigarette, alcohol, and other drug use; scholastic setbacks; and delinquent
behaviors; and they responded to several demographic and family background questions.
Using a variety of statistical analyses, the authors explore what might explain academic
success in young adulthood, defined here as having completed at least one year of college by
the age of 22.
Not surprisingly, they find that youth who are most likely to succeed academically in
early adulthood did well academically in school when they were young teenagers, had few
school setbacks (suspended, expelled, or held back in school), stayed out of trouble, and had
plans to go to college. They were more likely to be White and to reside in urban areas.
Living in a two-parent home with highly educated and involved parents also mattered.
Having established these important connections, the authors examine whether these
relationships change if substance use and delinquency are added to the mix. In other words,
will kids who did well in middle school but then get involved in drugs in high school be
more at risk for later academic failure? Using analytic techniques that explore the causal
relationships among different phenomena (in this case, school achievement, substance use,
and delinquency), they effectively demonstrate that among those students who participated
in the study over the eight-year period, adolescent substance use did not jeopardize later
school achievement.
Chapter by chapter, they examine different types of drugs (cigarette, alcohol,
marijuana, and cocaine). Regardless of drug type, they found that drug use did not
jeopardize academic success in young adulthood. The same held true for delinquency. So
even taking into account problem behaviors that might have developed in adolescence, kids
who excel early on have a good chance of academic success as young adults. Moreover, they
show that early school success deters high school substance use and delinquency, behaviors
that most would argue should be avoided regardless of their effects on school success.
As the authors themselves state, using self-reported survey data over an eight-year
period has its limitations. Teenagers who become heavily involved in drugs are not likely to
participate in a longitudinal study, even if they could be found, nor would youths whose
problem behaviors become significant enough that they end up in either the juvenile or
PsycCRITIQUES
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criminal justice systems. Consequently, the findings are applicable more toward
experimental drug users than toward more hard-core users or addicts, and toward high
school troublemakers who do not become heavily involved in the judicial system.
Albeit more expensive, alleviating this issue might be achieved by obtaining data
from multiple sources (parents, teachers, and school records). Furthermore, exploring other
possible causes of poor academic performance, such as learning disabilities, depression, lack
of motivation, parental drug use, and drug availability, would further advance our ability to
understand the causes of scholastic achievement among young adults today.
Despite these limitations, this book is a major step forward in the understanding of the
predictors of educational success, substance use, and delinquency. The availability of
nationally representative panel data for an eight-year period allows the authors to conduct
predictive analyses heretofore impossible. Summaries are well written and accessible to lay
audiences, while the detailed analyses will be most appreciated by those with statistical
backgrounds.
Finally, there is a nice balance between the analyses (including tables and figures)
presented in each chapter and those contained in the rather large appendix, which support
statements made in the main body of the book. This book is an important contribution to the
field of adolescent development and should be of value to researchers, practitioners, and
parents alike.
March 18, 2009, Vol. 54, Release 11, Article 5
© 2009, American Psychological Association