ABSTRACT

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study examined 2 questions: (a) Does poverty affect adolescents’ drug use, controlling for individual, family, and contextual characteristics and does this differ depending on race or ethnicity? (b) Are adolescent self-esteem and family support associated with their drug use? Findings suggest that living in poverty had adverse effects on adolescent drug use. Compared to Black and Hispanic youth, these effects were more pronounced among White adolescents living in poverty. Adolescents with higher self-esteem were less likely to use drugs. Drug use differed depending on gender, number of siblings, maternal marital status, and maternal years of education. This study suggests that substance use should be addressed in ecological contexts, looking at both macro antipoverty programs and micro psychosocial and family support programs. Current policies should expand on and bring new prevention and intervention efforts to reduce adolescent drug use by considering these macro and micro factors.

摘要

这项研究使用来自全国青少年纵向调查的数据，研究了两个问题：（a）贫困是否会影响青少年的毒品使用，控制个人，家庭和背景特征，并且这取决于种族或种族吗？（b）青少年的自尊和家庭支持与他们的药物使用有关吗？研究结果表明，生活在贫困中对青少年吸毒有不利影响。与黑人和西班牙裔青年相比，这些影响在生活贫困的白人青少年中更为明显。自尊心较高的青少年使用毒品的可能性较小。药物使用情况视性别，兄弟姐妹数，孕产妇婚姻状况和孕产年限而有所不同。这项研究表明，应在生态环境中解决物质使用问题，着眼于宏观的反贫困计划以及微观的社会心理和家庭支持计划。当前的政策应通过考虑这些宏观和微观因素，扩大并带来新的预防和干预措施，以减少青少年用药。