DRUG INVOLVEMENT AMONG POTENTIAL DROPOUTS AND TYPICAL YOUTH

Drug involvement, conceptualized as drug use frequency, drug access, d rug use control, and adverse use consequences, is described and compar ed among two randomly selected groups of students aged fourteen to nin eteen years: 203 low-risk typical high-school students and 160 youths at high-risk of school problems and dropout. High-risk youth, compared to low-risk youth and national statistics, endorsed a much greater br eadth and depth of drug use, greater access to drugs, less drug use co ntrol, and greater adverse consequences due to use. A secondary analys is showed low-risk users (experimenters) were similar to high-risk you th in their access to drugs and eroding drug use control, but showed l ow frequencies of drug use and negligible adverse use consequences. Me asuring and exploring these four facets of drug involvement provided a robust picture of the adolescents' drug milieu and revealed differenc es in patterns of drug involvement that would not have been evident by looking purely at drug use frequency. Implications for prevention pro gramming are suggested.