Adolescents and Drug Use: Toward a More Comprehensive Approach (From Drug Abuse, P 39-49, 1987, Raymond J Reitz, ed. -- See NCJ-127612)

• NCJ Number: 127615
• Author(s): B Jalali; M Jalali; G Crocetti; F Turner
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Phi Delta Kappa
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, V 51, N 1 (January 1981), P 120-130

Annotation

A survey of 2,131 public and parochial high school students in grades 7 through 12 in an urban and suburban school district in New Jersey gathered information on the pattern and prevalence of drug abuse among adolescents.

Abstract

The students were largely ages 15-17 and were 67.5 percent white, 18.3 percent Puerto Rican, and 8.3 percent black. Just over half were females, and 75.7 percent were Catholic. Results showed that a high percentage of the adolescent population uses drugs or alcohol, although the majority of youths do not use drugs regularly, However, a small percentage reported the daily use of drugs, risking addiction. Results also indicated that adolescents use drugs as a means of reducing anxiety. Findings suggest that the use of drugs and alcohol by adolescents should be viewed as a complex phenomenon greatly influenced by psychosocial contexts. Preventive measures and social psychiatric approaches are important, with direct psychiatric care reserved for compulsive users in whom psychotherapy is clearly demonstrated. Tables and 56 references (Author abstract modified)