PURPOSE IN LIFE, COGNITIVE EFFICACY, AND GENERAL DEVIANCE AS DETERMINANTS OF DRUG-ABUSE IN URBAN BLACK-YOUTH

Problem behavior theory has been a useful adjunct to explaining the et iology of adolescent drug use. However, the conceptual appropriateness of social-psychological theories of drug use with minority youth has rarely been tested empirically. In addition to normative developmental transitions associated with adolescence, minority youth may encounter sociopolitical and economic hardships that spawn despair, hopelessnes s, and personal anomie, which may independently engender drug use. Usi ng cross-sectional data from a cohort of 8th grade, urban, black youth , we tested several latent-variable structural equation models which p osited that general deviance would mediate the influence of cognitive efficacy (i.e., skills mastery and personal competence) and, separatel y, personal anomie. Models were psychometrically sound and accounted f or large portions of variation. Results showed that the influence of h opelessness, loneliness, and suicidal thinking was entirely mediated b y physical aggression, sensation-seeking, unsafe, and unconventional b ehavior. Personal competence had both direct and indirect influences o n drug use. Findings underscore the continued primacy of deviance in p redicting drug use for minority youth and the necessity of incorporati ng affective influences into current cognitive-behavioral intervention strategies.