Exploring Prospective Predictors of Illicit Drug-Toxicity Deaths: Evidence From the General Social Survey

Abstract

Background: This study was based on over 30,000 U.S. respondents who completed General Social Surveys between 1978 and 2002. Aims: We approached these respondents prospectively, comparing and contrasting the responses of those who subsequently died from drug-poisonings (N = 135) with all respondents who were still living, N = 23,559. Method: We employed cross-tabulation and logistic regression analyses to test for statistically significant differences between drug-poisoning death casualties and all living respondents. Results: Consistent with past research findings, younger males were over-represented among drug death casualties. Also consistent with past studies, drug casualties showed evidence of perceiving themselves as socially marginalized in comparison to living respondents: More reported themselves in poorer health, as having been sexual minority members during the last 5 years, as having spent their younger years in homes where parents’ marriages disrupted, with fewer owning homes and feeling less satisfied about their financial situations. Conclusions: These exploratory findings obtained from a general population survey reinforce findings from clinical studies and help advance clinical assessments of potential at-risk individuals who might be identified sooner, lest they succumb to future fatal drug poisonings.