NCJ Number
136729
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1992) Pages: 1-17
Date Published
1992
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a British survey that examined whether or not there is a correlation between truancy and solvent and drug use; truants' and non-truants' knowledge about AIDS-related matters was also included in the survey.
Abstract
This study completes a series begun in 1985 that examined drug and solvent abuse among "normal" school populations in nonmetropolitan southern England in the cities of Bournemouth and Southampton (Pritchard et al., 1986; Diamond et al., 1988). In a sample of 932 fourth and fifth year comprehensive-school adolescents, 41 percent had been truant in the current term. The truants, compared with their non-truant peers, had three times the level of solvent misuse (14 percent compared with 4 percent), three times the soft drug misuse (19 percent compared with 6 percent), and four times the involvement with hard drugs (9 percent compared with 2 percent). Truants were significantly more involved in other problematic behavior and scored higher on all negative social indexes including parents who smoked. Despite the sample's relatively accurate knowledge about drugs and HIV infection, truants scored less well on these and other HIV-related issues. An extrapolation of the results shows a significant number of adolescents at risk for AIDS. Policy implications are discussed. 5 tables, 55 references, and appended supplementary data