NCJ Number
165954
Date Published
1996
Length
158 pages
Annotation
The South Carolina Needs Assessment involved four related studies, one of which measured the incidence and prevalence of drug use among public school dropouts who dropped out of school during the 1993-1994 school year and identified sociodemographic factors that may be related to alcohol and other drug use among this population.
Abstract
The study focused on the use of and need for treatment for five drugs (alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin). The prevalence of drug abuse and dependence diagnoses were based on DSM-III-R criteria. Among school dropouts, drug use was greatest for alcohol, followed by marijuana, hallucinogens, cocaine, and heroin. The use of these drugs varied across subgroups, in particular across gender and racial subgroups. The general pattern was for use to be highest among white males, followed by black males, white females, and black females. Less variation was observed across State regions, age groups, and grade in which the student dropped out of school. Problems associated with drug use paralleled results reported for drug use. Alcohol-related problems were reported by the highest percentage of students, followed by problems with marijuana. Problems associated with the use of hallucinogens, cocaine, and heroin were experienced by only a small percentage of students. Once again, white males were most likely to experience these problems, while black females were least likely to report such problems. Just over 7 percent of those surveyed had ever received any type of treatment for drinking and other drug use, and this treatment was received at a range of different sites. Finally, while 6.3 percent indicated they would have sought some type of treatment in the past 12 months if it had been readily available, there was little consensus on the type of treatment school dropouts would have sought. Appendixes contain supplemental information on South Carolina regions and the student survey questionnaire. 24 tables and 4 figures