ABSTRACT
A three-year follow-up study of alcohol prevention among 4,406 children showed that neither a comprehensive school curriculum nor a community intervention was successful in preventing adolescent drinking. Predictor variables for drinking are examined and the importance of tolerance and encouragement of drinking by adult role models are noted.
Subject(s)
Alcohol Drinking/epidemiology , Rural Population , Substance-Related Disorders/prevention & control , Adolescent , Adolescent Behavior , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Incidence , Male , New Hampshire/epidemiology , Psychology, AdolescentABSTRACT
The effects on marijuana use of 1) a drug prevention curriculum, or 2) this curriculum with added parent and other adult community activities in comparison with 3) a control community were investigated. Baseline information on drug-related behaviors from a sample of fourth, fifth, and sixth graders aged nine to fourteen years in rural New Hampshire (N = 1200) were obtained. The children completed these initial questionnaires in classrooms in 1987. In the comprehensive community intervention regular marijuana use was reduced by over 50 percent. No program had a significant effect on the initiation of marijuana use. The predictors of initiation were being in a higher grade, low school satisfaction, poor academic achievement, feeling unloved by one's family, feeling unpopular, and being part of a drug-using peer group. The baseline predictors of subsequent regular marijuana use were poor academic achievement, feeling unpopular, and being part of a drug-using peer group. In interviews the cultural and social contexts of marijuana use were explored. Strategies to prevent marijuana use need to take into account the profile of the marijuana-using child, the adult community's attitudes and beliefs about drugs, and the access of drug sellers and users to children.
Subject(s)
Health Education/organization & administration , Marijuana Smoking/prevention & control , School Health Services/organization & administration , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Community Participation , Curriculum , Female , Humans , Male , Marijuana Smoking/psychology , Parents , Program Evaluation , Risk Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Pre-adolescent and adolescent drug use is a major public health concern in the United States. Although we have good prevalence data on some adolescents, we have little information on pre-adolescents, young adolescents, and rural children. We conducted a survey of 4,406 children in grades 4-12 in rural New Hampshire in 1990. Students completed annual self-report surveys on demographic characteristics, drug use, and psychosocial risk factors. These children are initiating drug use in elementary school. Alcohol is the preferred drug for both genders at all grade levels, followed by cigarettes, marijuana, and spitting tobacco. Current use of these drugs escalates in the sixth through ninth grades. Lifetime prevalence and 30-day prevalence increase slowly through high school. Most children who are going to use drugs have begun by the tenth grade. In this rural state, children's drug preferences are similar to those of other pre-adolescents and adolescents. Rural students have equal, and in some cases higher, lifetime and current use prevalence of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco in comparison with national samples.
Subject(s)
Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology , Adolescent , Alcohol Drinking/epidemiology , Alcoholic Intoxication/epidemiology , Child , Female , Humans , Male , New Hampshire/epidemiology , Prevalence , Rural Population , Surveys and Questionnaires , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Rural public school children initially in grades 4, 5, and 6 participated in a 36-month follow-up study of substance abuse prevention. Children completed self-report questionnaires at baseline and annually for three years after the introduction of prevention programs. We compared outcomes of (1) a comprehensive school curriculum ("Here's Looking at You, 2000"), (2) the curriculum plus a parenting course ("Parent Communication Course") and a community task force (Johnson Institute Model), and (3) control condition. Neither the curriculum nor the curriculum plus parent and community intervention had any effect on smokeless tobacco use by this preadolescent and young adolescent population. We used stepwise logistic regression to determine prediction models for smokeless tobacco use. Initiation of smokeless tobacco use is associated with sex, grade, and having friends who use drugs. Although regular use increases with grade, poor family relations, and low school satisfaction, the greatest risk factor was ever trying smokeless tobacco. We describe the culture of smokeless tobacco use in this population, and we discuss the implications of our research for smokeless tobacco use prevention.
Subject(s)
Plants, Toxic , Students , Substance-Related Disorders/prevention & control , Tobacco, Smokeless , Adolescent , Child , Curriculum , Female , Health Education , Humans , Male , New Hampshire , Risk Factors , Sex Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Alcohol use by 1190 fourth, fifth and sixth grade students was assessed in a survey of four rural New Hampshire school districts. Half the students surveyed (596) drank, but not regularly; 5 percent (59) were regular drinkers, and an additional 2 percent (19) were regular drinkers and had been drunk at least once. Reported alcohol use increased with both grade and age, and males drank more than females. The child's attitude toward drinking, perceived family attitudes towards drinking, the number of drinking friends, and self-perceived wrongdoing by the child were four factors strongly related to alcohol use. Increased alcohol use was also associated with experimental and current use of cigarettes, marijuana, and smokeless tobacco.
