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Personality, Social Control, and Drug Use in Early Adolescence
Abstract
Sociological theories of crime and delinquency have been criticized for failing to take into account biological and personality factors that may predispose people to antisocial behavior (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1989; Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985). According to these critics, dispositional differences produced by heredity, environmental conditions (e.g., nutrition and lead exposure), and parental behavior emerge and are identifiable in early childhood. It is charged that criminologists who fail to take these dispositional characteristics into account may exaggerate the importance of later social experiences in their explanations of delinquency and crime. Differential association and bonding theories, in particular, have been criticized in this regard.
... Problems of conceptualisation and measurement also exist with respect to the peer influence variable. Most past attempts to operationalize peer influence have measured either peer approval or peer modeling (e.g., Clapper et al., 1994;Farrell and White, 1998;Jones and Heaven, 1998;Kandel, 1985;Martin and Robbins, 1995). Measures of peer approval, ask respondents to report their peers' attitudes to their behavior (e.g. ...
... When faced with antisocial peer pressure, high sensation seekers might be driven to extremes of recklessness, as they perceive the pressure in a positive manner, as a challenge or "dare," whilst simultaneously being relatively uninfluenced by fears of contravening conventional standards or of upsetting significant adults (c.f. Martin and Robbins, 1995). Low sensation-seekers, on the other hand, may find the pressure from peers to behave in antisocial ways to be anxiety-provoking, and may actively resist such pressure. ...
... Sensation seeking was positively correlated with all 5 target behaviors, (although the zero-order correlation was weaker for reckless sex (r = 0.14) than for the other behaviors (mean r = 0.31)). This finding is consistent with a considerable body of past research that has shown sensation seeking to be correlated with risk and reckless behaviors in adolescents (e.g., Arnett, 1996;Martin and Robbins, 1995). After controlling for demographic variables and reporting biases, sensation seeking was found to contribute significantly to the prediction of risk and total reckless behaviors, although it accounted for a greater proportion of the variance in risk (4%) than in reckless behavior (1%). ...
Past researchers have identified a range of psychosocial predictors of problem behaviors during adolescence, but have been less active in addressing this same issue in relation to the 18–25-year age group. The current study investigated risk and reckless behaviors in emerging adults using self-report measures and a cross-sectional design. Several of the major limitations associated with past research were overcome by sampling widely, making clear conceptual distinctions, avoiding confounds between predictors and criteria, developing more direct measures of key constructs, and controlling for demographic variables and for social desirability. In this sample of 375 emerging adults, risk behaviors were found to be reliably predicted by sensation seeking, but not by antisocial peer pressure, whereas the reverse pattern of association was more true in relation to reckless behaviors. Gender differences, especially in relation to the impact of social desirability considerations, are explored.
... Unlike in previous studies[22,23,24], this study did not find any connection between age, parental communication and academic performance for marijuana utilization. For instance, research findings[82,83,84,85] to date on academic performance have been inconclusive on its association with risky behaviours.Surprisingly, age which has strongly been associated with prevalence of drug use among young people across a wide range of factors was not related to marijuana use in this study. ...
Marijuana utilization among school aged adolescents is major public and mental health concern in Ghana and other developing countries, with the rate of usage soaring high among school going adolescents. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of marijuana utilization among selected Junior High School (JHS) students in the Central Region of Ghana and explore the relative impact of psychosocial factors accounting for its usage. Using a descriptive cross-sectional survey design with the Global School Based Survey [GSHS] questionnaire, a sample of 1400 school going adolescents students were drawn using multistage sampling procedure. Frequencies, percentages and binary logistic regression results indicated marijuana utilization prevalence of 9% (n = 122). Statistically, gender (OR = 0.52, 95% CI= 0.35-.765, p = 0.001), religious affiliation (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.0-2.95, p = 0.034), socioeconomic background (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.33-1.23, p = 0.004) and geographical location (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.31-.886, p = 0.016) significantly predicted marijuana utilization among school aged adolescents. No statistically significant variations were found in the odds of students' marijuana usage for age (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.69-1.88, p = 0.590), parental communication (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.56-1.23, p = 0.348) and academic performance (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.66-1.80, p = 0.744). Findings suggest that school based research should reflect and perhaps replicate existing prevalence, patterns of marijuana and other drug use through multiple school surveys nationwide. This pathway may provide useful information towards the design, evaluation and implementation of drug prevention cognitive-behavioural interventions and the development of stringent drug regulative standards.
... Unlike in previous studies[22,23,24], this study did not find any connection between age, parental communication and academic performance for marijuana utilization. For instance, research findings[82,83,84,85] to date on academic performance have been inconclusive on its association with risky behaviours.Surprisingly, age which has strongly been associated with prevalence of drug use among young people across a wide range of factors was not related to marijuana use in this study. ...
Marijuana utilization among school aged adolescents is major public and mental health concern in Ghana and other developing countries, with the rate of usage soaring high among school going adolescents. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of marijuana utilization among selected Junior High School (JHS) students in the Central Region of Ghana and explore the relative impact of psychosocial factors accounting for its usage. Using a descriptive cross-sectional survey design with the Global School Based Survey GSHS questionnaire, a sample of 1400 school going adolescents students were drawn using multistage sampling procedure. Frequencies, percentages and binary logistic regression results indicated marijuana utilization prevalence of 9% (n = 122). Statistically, gender (OR = 0.52, 95% CI= 0.35 - .765, p = 0.001), religious affiliation (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.0 - 2.95, p = 0.034), socioeconomic background (OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.33 - 1.23, p = 0.004) and geographical location (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.31 - .886, p = 0.016) significantly predicted marijuana utilization among school aged adolescents. No statistically significant variations were found in the odds of students’ marijuana usage for age (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.69 - 1.88, p = 0.590), parental communication (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.56 - 1.23, p = 0.348) and academic performance (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.66 -1.80, p = 0.744). Findings suggest that school based research should reflect and perhaps replicate existing prevalence, patterns of marijuana and other drug use through multiple school surveys nationwide. This pathway may provide useful information towards the design, evaluation and implementation of drug prevention cognitive-behavioural interventions and the development of stringent drug regulative standards.
... Huizinga et al. 2003;Loeber et al. 2003;Farrington 2003;Tremblay 2003;Hawkins et al. 2003;Stacy 1995;Martin & Robbins 1995;Krohn et al. 1995;Kaplan & Damphousse 1995). Es wurden aber auch Faktoren identifiziert, welche diese Resilienz stärken. ...
... Consistent with the relevant literature, we consider personality characteristics in broad terms, and include personality and behavioral attributes (e.g., Brook, Whiteman, Gordon & Cohen, 1986;Block et al., 1988). Several personality domains have been consistently found to relate to alcohol and other drug use: 1) antisociality/alienation (e.g., Block et al., 1988;Brook, Cohen, Whiteman & Gordon, 1992;Jessor & Jessor, 1977); 2) low conventionality (e.g., Chassin et al., 1991;Newcomb & Bentler, 1988); and 3) low personal control orientation (e.g., Jessor et al., 1991;Sadava & Thompson, 1986); and 4) risk taking and sensation seeking (e.g., Bates & Labouvie, 1995;Baumrind, 1987;Chassin, 1984;Donohew, Lorch & Palmgreen, 1991;Martin & Robbins, 1995;Newcomb & McGee, 1991;Windle, 1994). Evidence regarding the link between self-esteem and substance use is equivocal (e.g., Kaplan, 1985;Labouvie & McGee, 1986;Newcomb, Bentler & Collins, 1986), and limited evidence suggests an inverse relationship between identity (e.g., relating to purpose in life) and substance use (e.g., . ...
This paper presents information from the ongoing research program, Monitoring the Future. The program is designed to: (1) monitor drug use and potential explanatory factors among American secondary school students, and other young adults; (2) distinguish which of three different kinds of change--maturational, historical, and/or cohort are occurring for various types of drug use; and (3) study causes, consequences, and maturational patterns associated with these different types of changes in drug use. Some 50,000 secondary school students in 435 schools are surveyed annually for the program. A follow-up survey of graduated classes yields a young adult sample of about 11,000 respondents in the age range of 19 to 32. The paper is divided into two parts. Part 1 contains the theoretical background and conceptual framework, and Part 2 elaborates on the ten objectives, their rationale, and presents a synopsis of progress to date. Some objectives include monitoring drug use and potential explanations in grades 8, 10, 12, among young adults and with ages 34 and 40; distinguishing period, age, and cohort effects; explaining secular trends and cohort differences; assessing the consequences of drug use; studying frequent or heavy-users; studying various under-represented groups; and the methodological, policy and other contributions to the field. (Contains 527 references.) (JDM)
The purpose of this investigation is to analyse which risk factors in the family, school and peer domains have an effect on the use of different types of drugs (alcohol, tobacco and narcotics) and on frequencies of drug use. Another question to be addressed is whether the number of risk factors present also has an effect on the different dimensions of drug use. A total of 467 students aged 14–15 (234 boys and 233 girls) were included in the study and a series of multivariate logistic regressions were estimated. The results show that the effects of family disruption, conflict in the family, parental monitoring, academic performance, time spent with friends and peer deviance differ significantly across the various dimensions of drug use studied. Parental monitoring, time spent with friends and peer deviance showed themselves to be the most important risk factors across these various dimensions. The number of risk factors present was also found to have an effect on drug use.
Class III antiarrhythmic agents have been shown to prevent reentrant arrhythmias but also to be responsible for initiating arrhythmias characterised by afterdepolarizations and triggered activities. By combining potassium and calcium channel antagonistic actions, as with BRL-32872 and (1), it might be possible to reduce the incidence of proarrhythmias albeit retaining antiarrhythmic efficacy. In the present study we synthesised and tested for their electrophysiological activity in guinea pig papillary muscle a wide panel of analogues of BRL-32872. Some qualitative relationships between compound structure and the inhibitory effect on the rapidly activating component of the delayed rectifier potassium current and/or the l-type calcium current will be presented. New derivatives depicting bell-shaped dose–response curves on action potential duration may therefore represent novel agents for improved antiarrhythmic therapy.
Adolescence is an evolutionarily conserved developmental phase characterized by hormonal, physiological, neural and behavioral alterations evident widely across mammalian species. For instance, adolescent rats, like their human counterparts, exhibit elevations in peer-directed social interactions, risk-taking/novelty seeking and drug and alcohol use relative to adults, along with notable changes in motivational and reward-related brain regions. After reviewing these topics, the present paper discusses conditioned preference and aversion data showing adolescents to be more sensitive than adults to positive rewarding properties of various drugs and natural stimuli, while less sensitive to the aversive properties of these stimuli. Additional experiments designed to parse specific components of reward-related processing using natural rewards have yielded more mixed findings, with reports of accentuated positive hedonic sensitivity during adolescence contrasting with studies showing less positive hedonic affect and reduced incentive salience at this age. Implications of these findings for adolescent substance abuse will be discussed.
A review of the literature suggests that early substance initiation is related to a variety of negative outcomes, including substance misuse or abuse in adolescence and adulthood. This study examines potentially modifiable predictors of early substance initiation, including both family and peer factors known to influence early initiation. A theoretically derived model of substance initiation was tested using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that both family and peer factors have an impact on early substance initiation when children in this sample were 11 and 12 years old. The model explained 60% of the variance in substance initiation. Prosocial family processes (rules, monitoring, and attachment) had a significant impact on child peer association, decreasing involvement with antisocial peers. These prosocial family processes had a significant negative effect on substance initiation even while modeling the influence of antisocial peers. Implications for drug use prevention practice are discussed.
Elevated levels of novelty seeking are often seen during adolescence. Recent studies using a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm have shown that novelty may be rewarding for adult rats. The present study explored the impact of age, sex, and isolation stress on novelty seeking and novelty reward by assessing novel object-induced CPP in adolescent and adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats housed either socially or in isolation. Responding to the novel objects during conditioning was higher in adolescent animals than adults, and was suppressed by social isolation only in adulthood, particularly among males. Novel object CPP was strong among adolescent males, whereas only socially isolated adult males demonstrated preference for the compartment paired with the novel objects. This age difference was not evident in females, with both adolescent and adult group-housed females, but not their isolated counterparts, showing novel-object place conditioning. These dissociations between novelty-directed behaviors during conditioning and novelty reward in the CPP paradigm support the suggestion that mechanisms underlying novelty seeking are separable from those involved in the rewarding effects of novelty. High levels of novelty seeking demonstrated by adolescents do not necessarily predict high rewarding properties of novelty, with the latter also being influenced by environmental and gender-related factors.
To determine the association of frequency of illegal drug use with five groups of factors: environmental stressors, parental drug use, parental child rearing, peer drug use, and adolescent personal attributes.
1468 male (45%) and female (55%) adolescents, aged 12 to 17 years (mean 14.76, SD 1.51), were interviewed at home in Durban and Capetown, South Africa. Independent measures assessed environmental stressors, parental child rearing, parental drug use, peer drug use, and adolescent personal attributes. The dependent variable was the adolescents' frequency of illegal drug use.
Regression analyses showed that personal attributes and peer substance use explained the largest percentage of the variance in the adolescents' frequency of illegal drug use. In addition, both of the parental factors and the environmental stressors contributed to the explained variance in adolescent drug use above and beyond the two more proximal domains at a statistically significant level.
Knowing the contribution of more proximal vs. more distal risk factors for illegal drug use is useful for prioritizing targets for interventions. Targeting changes in the more proximal predictors (e.g., adolescent personal attributes) may be more effective as well as more feasible than trying to produce changes in the more distal factors, such as environmental stressors.
Using a probability sample from a 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of Asian-Pacific Islander youths in Guam, this brief study examined the outcomes for methamphetamine use on aggression and risky sexual activities. The results of the study indicated that both male and female adolescents who used methamphetamine were significantly more likely to participate in aggressive behaviors and sexual risks (i.e., numerous sex partners). The inclusion of grade point averages in a logistic regression equation revealed that White adolescents were more likely than other ethnicities to indicate that they had used methamphetamine and the inclusion of student grade point averages reduced male gender to nonsignificance. We also discuss the limitations of the study.
The following measures were administered to 78 undergraduates: the General and Disinhibition subscales of Zuckerman's (1971) Sensation-Seeking Scale; the Reducer-Augmenter Scale (RAS; Vando, 1970, 1974); self-reported use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis; the degree of attribution of stimulant, depressant, and neutral effects to these drugs; and desirability ratings of stimulant and depressant effects ascribed to various drugs. Major findings were as follows: (a) On the RAS, reducing correlated positively with both sensation-seeking measures. (b) Seven of the nine personality-versus-drug-use correlations were positive and significant. (c) Generally, the effects attributed to drugs did not differ by sex, personality, or use. (d) However, frequent drinkers attributed stimulant effects to alcohol more strongly than depressant effects, whereas infrequent drinkers did the opposite. (e) The mean desirability ratings of stimulant and depressant drug effects correlated positively. (f) High disinhibitors rated drug effects of both kinds more favorably than did lows. (g) A similar, more favorable evaluation by high than by low general sensation seekers was significant for male subjects only. (h) Score on the Reducer-Augmenter Scale was not significantly predictive of subjects' desirability ratings.
Examined interrelationships among sex, race, drug use patterns, and personality variables in 84 chronic users of illicit drugs (mean age 24.3 yrs). Ss were administered the MMPI, the Sensation Seeking Scale, and the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale for Measuring Intellectual Impairment and were interviewed using the Background Information Questionnaire. Comparisons were made between sex and ethnic subgroups on personality and drug use variables using analysis of covariance and chi-square procedures for Ss classified into high-, medium-, and low-sensation-seeking groups. Blacks were characterized by lower levels of sensation seeking, less psychopathology, use of fewer drug categories, and later drug use than Whites. Use and personality patterns among women differed little from those of men. Levels of sensation seeking were related to specific personality constellations, number of drug categories used, and motive for first alcohol use. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examines the ability of five self-report assessment measures to predict college students' drug use across 12 pharmacological drug categories. Subjects were 125 female and 61 male university undergraduate students. The test battery included the following instruments: the Psychopathic Deviancy (Pd) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI); the MacAndrew Alcoholism scale (MAC), a special scale of the MMPI; the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS); the Millon Alcohol Abuse Scale; and the Millon Drug Abuse Scale. Scores from these instruments were utilized in linear combinations to predict individual drug use outcomes as well as polydrug versus single drug use patterns. The drug categories included in this investigation are coffee, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, tranquilizers, depressants, amphetamines, LSD, other hallucinogens, solvents, narcotics, and cocaine. Results demonstrate significant and meaningful relationships between predictors and drug use levels among college students. Weighted equations derived from linear discriminant function analyses were generally capable of accurately classifying subject's drug use levels across drug categories and in discriminating single drug use from polydrug use patterns. Typically, the Sensation Seeking Scale entered as the most powerful predictor of substance use and abuse.
Earlier bivariate findings suggested that diverse problem behaviors, including problem drinking, illicit drug use, delinquent-type behavior, and precocious sexual intercourse, may comprise a single behavioral syndrome in samples of normal adolescents. A multivariate test of this possible syndrome was carried out through a series of maximum likelihood factor analyses based on self-report data from several samples of adolescents and youth. Analyses were performed by sex on four waves of panel data from a high school cohort and a college-age cohort, using their adolescent/college-age data as well as their data from young adulthood, and on multiple random subsamples of adolescents who participated in the 1978 National Study of Adolescent Drinking (Rachal et al., 1980). Results of the analyses consistently showed that one common factor accounts for the correlations among the different problem behaviors. The findings lend support to the notion of a syndrome of problem behavior in both adolescence and young adulthood.
Patterns of initiation, continued use, and decline in drug use are described on the basis of detailed drug histories in a longitudinal cohort representative of former New York State adolescents. In this cohort, the period of major risk for initiation to cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, is completed for the most part by age 20, and to illicit drugs other than cocaine by age 21. Those who have not experimented with any of these substances by that age are unlikely to do so thereafter. Initiation into prescribed psychoactive drugs occurs at a later age than for the licit and illicit drugs and continues through the age period covered by the survey. A potential maturational trend in marijuana use in this cohort is apparent with a decline beginning approximately at age 22.5 for most usage patterns. The periods of highest marijuana and alcohol usage decline beginning at ages 20-21 and contrast sharply with cigarettes which exhibit climbing rates of highest use through the end of the surveillance period (age 25). Overall patterns are similar for men and women, with men initiating all drugs at higher rates than women, except for prescribed psychoactives .
Major pathways of progression among legal, illegal, and medically prescribed psychoactive drugs from adolescence to young adulthood are described. The data are based on a follow-up cohort of former adolescents representative of high school students in grades 10 and 11 in New York State who were reinterviewed nine years later at ages 24-25. Various models of progression are tested for their goodness of fit. The patterns formerly observed in adolescence involving progression from one class of legal drug (either alcohol or cigarettes) to marijuana to the use of other illicit drugs appear in the transitional period into young adult, with an additional stage, that of prescribed psychoactive drugs. Some differences appear between men and women, with cigarettes more important for women than for men in the total progression.
The study was designed to test the theoretical predictions that high-sensation seekers feel and function better than low-sensation seekers under conditions of heightened arousal, whereas lows perform better than highs when central nervous system arousal levels are dampened. Thirty-two male medical students scoring in either the top or bottom deciles of their class on the total score of the Sensation Seeking Scale, Form V, were administered placebo, stimulant, and depressant drug treatments (each substance in a different session). Results did not support an optimal level of arousal model of sensation seeking, in that affective, cognitive, and motoric responses to drugs that increased or decreased tonic levels of arousal generally failed to differentiate high- and low-sensation seekers.
A follow-up survey of 247 persons who received d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in either an experimental (nonmedical) or Psychotherapeutic setting was made to determine the lasting effects, if any, related to use of the drug. Information was collected from each by a structured interview and self-administered questionnaire. Some subsequent nonmedical use of LSD was reported by 23%, who attributed more personality changes to the drug's use. There is, however, little evidence that measurable, lasting personality, belief, value, attitude, or behavior changes were produced in the sample as a whole. Compulsive patterns of LSD use rarely developed; the nature of the drug effect apparently is such that it becomes less attractive with continued use and, in the long-term, is almost always self-limiting.
This investigation, one of a series examining patterns of drug and alcohol use or non-use in young adults, explored personality and daydreaming patterns of 579 male and female college students by means of multivariate analyses and factor analysis. Students from a Northeastern and border state rural college filled out surveys of drug and alcohol use and also were administered the Jackson Personality Research Form, the Singer-Antrobus Imaginal Processes Inventory, the Rotter Locus of Control Scale, and the Zuckerman Sensation-Seeking Scales. Data indicated patterns of widespread but moderate drug and alcohol use even in the rural college group. Daydreaming patterns replicated those of earlier studies but were not especially related to drug or alcohol indulgence.
Event history analyses are applied to life and drung histories to specify the casual sequences that underlie the associations between marijuana use and family roles observed in cross-sectional data: inverse relationships with marriage and being a parent; positive relationships with separation/divorce. Role selection and role socialization account for these relationships, and both processes contribute to the resolution of potential incompatibilities between family roles and marijuana use. Role selection effects of marijuana use are reflected in postponement of marriage and parenthood and increased risk of marital dissolution. Socialization effects of family roles on marijuana use are reflected in the reduced risk of marijuana initiation after marriage among women and the increased rate of stopping marijuana use after marriage among women and after parenthood among men. Anticipatory socialization is reflected in an increased propensity to stop marijuana use before marriage among men and women and before par...
The often-noted association between alcohol use and criminal behavior has been a sticky one for behavioral scientists to disentangle and explain in terms of causal ordering. In this study, we examine late adolescence as a particularly critical developmental period during which each of these activities is being established. Several theories are proposed and tested to explain the relationship between alcohol use and criminal involvement using one-year longitudinal data. Sensation seeking was included as a plausible underlying spurious influence that might account for the association between alcohol use and criminal behavior. A majority of both males and females had used alcoholic substances, and a substantial minority had engaged in some type of other deviant behavior. All analyses were conducted separately by sex, and — although there were several mean sex differences — there were few major sex differences in the magnitude or patterns of association between alcohol and deviance either cross-sectionally or longitudinally. Alcohol use and deviance were moderately stable over the one-year period. Nevertheless, clear support was found for the hypothesis that early alcohol use generated or caused increased later deviance and criminal behavior for both sexes. Little support was found for the reverse hypothesis, particularly when sensation seeking was considered; early delinquent behavior had no direct effect on changing patterns of alcohol use. Some support for the problem behavior hypothesis was found based on the high intercorrelations among the constructs, although little support emerged for any of the other theories considered.
The social psychological antecedents of entry into three sequential stages of adolescent drug use, hard liquor, marihuana, and other illicit drugs, are examined in a cohort of high school students in which the population at risk for initiation into each stage could be clearly specified. The analyses are based on a two-wave panel sample of New York State public secondary students and subsamples of matched adolescent-parent and adolescent-best schoolfriend dyads. Each of four clusters of predictor variables, parental influences, peer influences, adolescent involvement in various behaviors, and adolescent beliefs and values, and single predictors within each cluster assume differential importance for each stage of drug behavior. Prior involvement in a variety of activities, such as minor delinquency and use of cigarettes, beer, and wine are most important for hard liquor use. Adolescents' beliefs and values favorable to the use of marihuana and association with marihuana-using peers are the strongest predictors of initiation into marihuana. Poor relations with parents, feelings of depression, and exposure to drug-using peers are most important for initiation into illicit drugs other than marihuana.
The following hypothesis has been tested: sensation seeking, A-state and A-trait, and depressive mood should positively affect adolescent substance use. The personality variables and alcohol and drug use were assessed among 1,900 Israel adolescents, 14 to 19 years old. The major findings were as follows: (a) Sensation seeking and availability significantly affected the "ever" and "current" substance use among adolescents. On the other hand, contrary to our hypothesis, neither A-trait nor depressive mood significantly affected substance use. (b) A-State affected the use of alcoholic beverages and nonprescribed medications. (c) The data emphasized the significant role of availability of drugs in the understanding of adolescents' substance use. The implications of these findings for interventions among adolescents are discussed.
This study examined the relationship of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) measures, including the MacAndrew alcoholism (MAC) scale, and the Sensation Seeking Scales (SSS) to adolescents' drug use across nine drug categories. Subjects were 51 male and 72 female high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 (mean age = 16 years, 5 months). The drug use/abuse measure consisted of adolescents' self-reports on the Segal (1973) Alcohol-Drug Use Research Survey. Drug categories included for investigation were alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, caffeine, cocaine, hallucinogens, marijuana, narcotics, and tobacco. Scores from standard MMPI scales, the MAC scale, and the SSS were examined in relation to individual drug use outcomes, and multivariate procedures were used to predict polydrug versus single drug use patterns. Results demonstrated significant and meaningful relationships between personality measures and drug use among adolescents, with consistently strong findings for the SSS.
Concurrent and longitudinal analyses of the associations between intention to use and actual use of substances were examined for 847 adolescents from four different ethnic backgrounds. Five different substances were studied: Cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, nonprescription medications, and hard drugs. Results showed that: (a) there were significant and consistent relationships between current level of substance use and intention of use for all ethnic groups. However, these measures of association varied considerably among ethnic groups and covered a wide range from .17 for Blacks on use of nonprescription medications to .69 for Hispanics on alcohol consumption; (b) the degree of association between intention and use, as well as ethnic differences gradually decreased over time; and (c) partialling out the effects of previous experimentation with drugs decreased the contribution of intention to predict future drug use to a nonsignificant level for Hispanics, to a moderate degree for Black and Asians, and remained a significant and meaningful contribution for Whites.
This study examines ethnic differences in reported use of cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, hard drugs, and non-prescription medications among a sample of adolescents and attempts to explain these differences in terms of income, ease of acquisition, and availability from friends. Data were obtained from 847 students three times over a five-year period. Results indicate consistent and significant differences among ethnic groups substance use at all three points in time. It was hypothesized that ethnic groups have differential access to substances and economic resources to purchase various drugs. To test these hypotheses, availability from friends, perceived ease of acquisition, income from earnings and gifts/allowances, and initial substance use were examined across ethnic groups and then used as covariates of the substance differences. A split-plot repeated measures design with covariates was used to compare changes in substance use across time and between ethnic groups. Earned income made a significant impact on explaining the ethnic differences for cigarette, alcohol, and given income on cannabis consumption. Adding community variables such as availability from friends, ease of acquisition, and initial drug use not only eliminates the effects of income variables on drug use, but in most cases, the ethnic differences among adolescents as well.
The sedating and arousing central nervous system effects of drugs have long been inferred to be a factor in their illicit use and abuse. The present study provides evidence to support this contention; specifically, preference for a particular drug is, in part, a function of arousal-seeking and stimulus-screening characteristics. In general, the results suggest that individuals who prefer central nervous system stimulants tend to have greater arousal-seeking tendencies and lower external stimulus screening ability than those who prefer central nervous system depressants. Opiate preferrers aligned more closely with stimulant preferrers than alcohol groups. Preferrers of hallucinogens were higher in internal stimulus screening than all other drug preference groups. Trait anxiety does not appear to be related to arousal seeking or to preference for arousing or sedating drugs.
The following measures were administered to 78 undergraduates: the General and Disinhibition subscales of Zuckerman's (1971) Sensation-Seeking Scale; the Reducer-Augmenter Scale (RAS; Vando, 1970, 1974); self-reported use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis; the degree of attribution of stimulant, depressant, and neutral effects to these drugs; and desirability ratings of stimulant and depressant effects ascribed to various drugs. Major findings were as follows: (a) On the RAS, reducing correlated positively with both sensation-seeking measures. (b) Seven of the nine personality-versus-drug-use correlations were positive and significant. (c) Generally, the effects attributed to drugs did not differ by sex, personality, or use. (d) However, frequent drinkers attributed stimulant effects to alcohol more strongly than depressant effects, whereas infrequent drinkers did the opposite. (e) The mean desirability ratings of stimulant and depressant drug effects correlated positively. (f) High disinhibitors rated drug effects of both kinds more favorably than did lows. (g) A similar, more favorable evaluation by high than by low general sensation seekers was significant for male subjects only. (h) Score on the Reducer-Augmenter Scale was not significantly predictive of subjects' desirability ratings.
The authors test a model that accounts for the adoption of drug use among adolescents in terms of four explanatory perspectives: self-derogation, peer influence, social control, and early substance use. The data come from a three-wave panel study of junior high school students in Houston (N=3,052). Using nine variables at Time 1, 10 variables at Time 2, and drug use at Time 3, they operationalize components of all four theoretical perspectives in a path model predicting drug use. Results indicate that the four theoretical perspectives complement each other in predicting subsequent adoption of drug use. Significant primary and intervening roles can be attributed to each of the four perspectives. They discuss these findings in terms of an integrative approach to multivariate models of drug use.
College student volunteers completed the Sensation Seeking Scale, a drug use survey, and provided demographic information. Subjects were also asked to generate a list of the events that they found most reinforcing (Reinforcer List). Drug use was positively related to scores on all subscales of the Sensation Seeking Scale. Although neither drug use nor sensation seeking scores were related to the total number of items generated on the Reinforcer List, drug users did generate a higher percentage of items rated as high sensation producing items, and percent high sensation reinforcers was correlated with scores on the Sensation Seeking Scale. These results illustrate the importance of the sensation seeking motive as a correlate of student drug use.
A sample of college students (70 men and 70 women, each group composed of equal numbers of heavy and light drinkers) completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Form V of the Sensation Seeking Scale, the S-R Inventory of General Trait Anxiousness, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, as well as seven other measures directly assessing alcohol-related attitudes and behavior. It was hypothesized that heavy drinkers would evidence strong sensation-seeking needs with a specially high need for disinhibition. It was also predicted that heavy-drinking women would display more adjustment problems than other students and would report greater anxiety than men when drinking in situations involving social evaluation or interactions with members of the opposite sex. The first hypothesis was confirmed: heavy drinkers did exhibit strong sensation-seeking needs. However, heavy-drinking women were not characterized by adjustment problems nor did they report greater anxiety in drinking situations. The results suggest that women tend to drink to enhance social pleasures, whereas men expect a greater degree of aggressive arousal and social deviance when drinking.
Effects of drug abuse message styles: Final report. A report of a study conducted under a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
- L Dcnohew
Deviant drug and alcohol use
- D G Kilpatrick
- P D Sutker
- A D Smith
- DG Kilpatrick
A comprehensive substance prevention program: An Israeli experiment
- M Teichman
- G Rahav
- Z Barnea
Drug use as one manifestation of a sensation seeking trait Drug abuse: Current concepts in research
- M Zuckerman
The effect of sensation seeking needs on alcohol and marijuana use in adolescence
- M E Bates
- E W Labouvie
- H R White
- ME Bates
Deviant behavior in defense of self
- H B Kaplan
- HB Kaplan