NCJ Number
196960
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 37 Issue: 5-7 Dated: 2002 Pages: 599-611
Date Published
2002
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined both licit and illicit substance use among rural male and female Costa Rican adolescents.
Abstract
In 1995, a sample of 304 students from rural schools was randomly selected. The mean age for females was 14.7 years and for males was 14.4 years. Data were collected using the Latin-American version of Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI), a self-report instrument that quantifies severity of involvement with drugs and alcohol, and commonly associated health, psychiatric, and psychosocial problems. Results show that alcohol and tobacco were the most frequently used drugs. This study suggests that the gap reported in earlier studies between male and female alcohol use has disappeared. In the current study, a similar proportion of male and female adolescents had ever tried alcohol in rural Costa Rica. The same results have been found in urban areas. Costa Rican adolescents are at risk of increasing alcohol use and suffering the consequences. Those adolescents that had tried alcohol did so at a very early age. Further research should test the link between substance use and dropping out of school, which is at a rate of 48 percent for rural adolescents. Other issues to be studied are the high unemployment rate, the lack of vocational education opportunities, and the lack of sport and recreational opportunities in rural Costa Rica. Illicit substance use among rural adolescents was relatively rare, and the mean age of first use was higher among rural adolescents than has been reported among urban adolescents. Services and educational programs to deal with aspects of drug use and misuse are sparse. Government policy has not recognized the potential problem that exists. 2 figures, 1 table, 20 references