NCJ Number
224120
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 38 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2008 Pages: 467-492
Date Published
2008
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study examined the applicability of the “gateway hypothesis” (illicit drug use that begins with alcohol and tobacco experimentation moves on to early marijuana use and then continues into harder drugs such as cocaine and heroin) to secondary students from a nonmetropolitan area in Tennessee.
Abstract
The study results were mixed. The study found that prior experience with mild drugs was associated with later use of stronger drugs (i.e., from alcohol and tobacco to marijuana and from marijuana to hard drugs). The study also found evidence of a gateway sequence from licit drug use to marijuana and later use of hard drugs; however, these correlations were found to depend upon other variables, especially peer influences. A significant number of students who used licit drugs did not proceed toward the next level or further. It was the same case for students who smoked marijuana at an early age. About half of the total sample and more than half from the high school subgroup began drug use with licit drugs. Marijuana use was not a warning sign for future drug use for the vast majority of those who used marijuana. The likelihood of drug use was related to numerous factors, including peer influence, school factors, neighborhood conditions, and family structure. The findings thus support problem behavior theory and integrated systems theory, which hypothesize that factors unique to respondents’ personality and perceived environment are the primary factors determining the likelihood of drug use. Study data were collected from students in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades at 3 secondary schools in Murfreesboro, TN, (a population of 84,000). Self-administered questionnaires were completed under teacher supervision, 869 students completed the survey. 4 tables, 2 figures, 1 appendix and 60 references