NCJ Number
166893
Journal
Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education Volume: 41 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1996) Pages: 44-54
Date Published
1996
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Nine hundred twenty-five male and female children in the fourth and fifth grades in a suburban elementary school in upstate New York were surveyed in June 1994 to determine factors affecting their use of cigarettes and alcohol.
Abstract
Information was also collected from teachers regarding the students' participation in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. Results revealed that experimentation rates for cigarette use were low, but use increased significantly from fourth to fifth grade. In addition, the use of alcohol was much higher than that of cigarettes, and it also increased significantly from fourth to fifth grade. Regression analyses revealed that the variables most strongly related to cigarette use were both peer use of cigarettes and peer pressure to smoke. Sibling use of cigarettes and a child's belief in the harmfulness of smoking were weakly related to cigarette use. Alcohol use was best predicted by peer use and peer pressure to drink. Belief in the dangers of alcohol was not significantly related to alcohol use. Exposure to the DARE program had no significant relationship to either cigarette or alcohol use. Findings support the use of peers in drug intervention efforts aimed at this age group and indicate that alcohol use should occupy the larger focus of intervention programs in the early grades. Tables and 24 references (Author abstract modified)