THE INTAKE OF PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES BY SCHOOL-AGE ADOLESCENTS IN ANURBAN AREA OF SOUTHEASTERN REGION OF BRAZIL .2. DISTRIBUTION OF CONSUMPTION BY SOCIAL LEVELS

Introduction Many of the epidemiological studies or? the consumption o f legal and illegal psychoactive substances have included the evaluati on of the influence of social context on the levels of prevalence of t his consumption using indirect social indicators such as family income , and educational and housing levels in nn attempt to identify individ uals or groups in different social contexts. The present study investi gates the distribution of consumpition of psychoactive substances acco rding to social class in a sample of teenage pupils in Ribeirao Preto, SP, Southeastern Brazil. Material and Method A self-applicable questi onnaire duly adapted and submitted to a reliability test was applied t o a proportional sample of 1,025 teenagers enrolled ill the 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th grades in public and private city schools. The questionn aires;es contained questions about the use of ten classes of psychoact ive substances, demographic questions and validation information, as w ell as questions about the perception and intrinsic behavior related t o drug consumption. The adaptation of a model that identifies 5 social class strata (business middle class, managerial middle class, lower m iddle class, proletariat and subproletariat) on the basis of indicator s that situate the individuals,within the social relations of producti on, was used. Results The 3 middle class strata were more often repres ented whereas the proletariat and subproletariat were less frequently represented in this teenage pupil population than bl the population in general. There was no difference in alcohol or tobacco consumption ac cording to social class, although prevalence tended to be higher at th e two extremes of the social ladder In contrast, the consumption of il legal substances,was higher in the middle class and lower in the prole tariat. Conclusion Although the consumption of legal substances did no t differ among social classes, the higher consumption of illegal subst ances by the wealthier teenagers was probably mle to the higher cost o f these products as compared those of alcohol and tobacco.