Risk factors for adolescent substance abuse and dependence: Data from a national sample

A national household probability sample of 4,023 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years was interviewed by telephone about substance use, victimization exper iences, familial substance use, and posttraumatic reactions to identify ris k factors for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) defined substance abuse/depend ence. Age and ethnicity data were available for 3,907 participants. Major f indings were (a) adolescents who had been physically assaulted, who had bee n sexually assaulted, who had witnessed violence, or who had family members with alcohol or drug use problems had increased risk for current substance abuse/dependence; (b) posttraumatic stress disorder independently increase d risk of marijuana and hard drug abuse/dependence; and (c) when effects of other variables were controlled, African Americans, but not Hispanics or N ative Americans, were at approximately 1/3 the risk of substance abuse/depe ndence as Caucasians.