Smoking, Drinking, and Illicit Drug Use Among American Secondary School Students, College Students, and Young Adults, 1975-1991: Volume 2, College Students and Young Adults

• NCJ Number: 140646
• Author(s): L D Johnston; P M O'Malley; J G Bachman
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 191 pages
• Grant Number(s): 3-R01-DA-01411
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Corporate Author: University of Michigan
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A national survey of college students and young adults gathered information on their use of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs during 1991.

Abstract

Results revealed a continuation of the longer-term gradual decline in the proportion using any illicit drug, with 29 percent of college students and 27 percent of all young adults aged 19 to 28 reporting use of a drug in the past year. The use of cocaine and crack also declined. College students had usage rates for marijuana, inhalants, hallucinogens, MDMA, and heroin as noncollege youth and lower rates of use of cocaine, crack, stimulants, barbiturates, and tranquilizers. Forty-three percent of college students reported drinking five or more drinks in a row at least once during the 2 weeks before the survey. However, college students had a daily drinking rate that was slightly lower than that of their age peers, suggesting that they are somewhat more likely to confine their drinking to weekends. College males had higher rates of heavy drinking than did females. Young adults not in college had much higher rates of smoking than did college students.