Risk Factors for Drug Use in Urban Adolescents: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

Abstract

A three-wave longitudinal panel design was used to examine the relationship between risk factors and drug use in a sample of 1,375 middle school students in an urban school system. The total number of risk factors was significantly related to subsequent initiation of use for beer, wine, hard liquor, cigarettes, and marijuana. Comparison of several path models relating risk factors to the frequency of drug use across three time points between the seventh and eighth grades indicated that a reciprocal model provided the best fit to the data. Within this model, drug use was predicted by previous levels of drug use and risk factors, and the risk factor index was predicted by previous levels of risk factors and drug use. These findings provide further support for the utility of a risk factors approach to identifying variables associated with drug use among adolescents.