RECIPROCAL CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG DRUG-USE, PEERS, AND BELIEFS - A 5-WAVE PANEL MODEL

Interactional theory posits a reciprocal relationship among drug use, association with drug using peers, and beliefs about drug use. Using f ive waves of data from a panel study of high-risk adolescents, two mod els are estimated to examine these assumptions, The results support th e main hypotheses from interactional theory, Drug use and peer drug us e are involved in a reciprocal causal relationship with the effect fro m drug use to peer drug use being slightly larger, Beliefs about drug use and drug use are also reciprocally related although the effect of beliefs on drug use is relatively weak, The effect of peer drug use on beliefs is stronger in later waves as compared to earlier waves, supp orting interactional theory's assumptions about the importance of taki ng into account developmental stages of drug use, The importance of th ese findings for both theoretical development and intervention strateg ies is discussed.