Children's beliefs about long-term health effects of alcohol and cocaine use

Objective: To assess age differences in children's beliefs about the long-t erm health effects of alcohol and cocaine, to use such beliefs to predict a ttitudes toward and intentions to use these substances, and to establish wh ether accurate beliefs are more predictive than inaccurate ones. Methods: Children ages 6 to 12 (N = 217) responded to an open-ended questio n about the effects of longterm alcohol and cocaine use and to 12 structure d questions asking whether each produces alcohol-like, cocaine-like, and to bacco-like effects. Results: Differentiation among alcohol, cocaine, and tobacco effects was li mited but increased with age. Beliefs about health effects had no impact on alcohol attitudes and intentions, but intentions to drink were stronger am ong older and white children. Anti-cocaine attitudes and intentions were as sociated with being older and non-White and with having accurate knowledge of cocaine's true health effects-but also with believing falsely that cocai ne has tobacco-like effects and that drugs in general have catastrophic eff ects. Conclusions: With age, and as predicted by Werner's orthogenetic principle, children differentiated more sharply between substances. Although negative misconceptions can contribute to anti-drug attitudes and intentions, child ren should nonetheless be taught about the distinct effects of different su bstances on health.