Epidemiology of Drug Use and Abuse Among Women (From Drug Addiction Research and the Health of Women: Executive Summary, P 24-28, 1998, Cora Lee Wetherington and Adele B. Roman, eds. -- See NCJ-178171)

• NCJ Number: 178173
• Author(s): D. B. Kandel
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC; paper from a national conference on "Drug Addiction Research and the Health of Women," September 1994.

Annotation

This paper deals with the epidemiology of drug abuse that involves two different paths of research: examination of patterns of drug abuse by individuals, including frequency of drug abuse; and attempting to measure the extent of drug abuse by investigating behaviors and symptoms that meet the criteria for diagnosis of a drug abuse disorder.

Abstract

The author advises that epidemiological studies based on samples of the general population rather than on specific high- risk groups can better assess the distribution of drug abuse and the need for drug treatment services, because such samples are free of selection and referral biases. This paper presents data on the epidemiology of drug use and drug abuse disorders from two national studies and data on the developmental patterns and consequences of women's drug use from the longitudinal cohort that the author has followed from the subjects' adolescence to mid-30's. There is a well-developed sequence from licit drug use to illicit drug abuse. The author's study revealed the intergenerational transmission of smoking and showed that cigarette smoking may play an important role in women's progression to illicit drug abuse. The author suggests that research which involves a collaboration of disciplines, ranging from biology to psychology, may increase understanding of drug- abuse behaviors. Questions from the audience and answers from the author are included.