FACTORS RELATED WITH DRUG-USE AMONG URBAN ADOLESCENTS IN MEXICO

This is a retrospective study on teenagers from 14 to 17 years of age based on data from the National Survey on Drug Addiction conducted in 1988. The aim of this study was to discover the factors linked to drug consumption among Mexican urban teenagers. This paper reports prevale nce rates (PR), raw and adjusted by gender as well as Cornfield's inte rvals (CI) of 95 per cent. For women, factors linked to drug use were: alcohol consumption (PR 6.5, CI: 1.5-28.3); father drug user (PR 3.2, CI: 1.1-9.5). For men, factors linked to drug use were: age (PR 3.2; CI: 1.5-7.4); non religious practice (PR 2.7, CI: 1.2-6.4); acquaintan ces who are users of marihuana, cocaine or heroine-opium (PR 12.2, 6.6 and 7.0 respectively); and if the father, a brother or another relati ve are drug users (PR 4.1, 7.1 and 3.5 respectively). These findings s how important gender differences in drug consumption patterns and link ed factors. This paper brings out useful information for a complete un derstanding of this problem in Mexico.