Abstract
BackgroundBeing offered illicit drugs is a critical factor leading to drug initiation and other psychosocial risk behaviors among adolescents in the United States. However, there exist few studies examining the recent trends in drug offers among adolescents, particularly across racial/ethnic subgroups. The present study examines trends and psychosocial/behavioral correlates of drug offers among adolescents of the three largest racial/ethnic groups.MethodsWe used data from the 2002–2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health of adolescents aged 12–17, which include African-American, Hispanic, and White adolescents (n = 199,700) in the U.S. We estimated the prevalence of past-month drug offers by race/ethnicity, and conducted logistic regression analyses to test the significance of the trends and to examine the correlates of drug offers.ResultsOverall, the prevalence of drug offers decreased significantly from 16.3% in 2002 to 12.3% in 2014, reflecting a 24.5% reduction in the relative proportion of adolescents who were offered drugs. While the decreasing trends were observed in all subgroups (e.g., race/ethnicity), the decreases were more limited among African-American and Hispanic youth than White youth. As a result, while no differences were observed at the outset of the study, a higher proportion of African-American and Hispanic adolescents were offered drugs between 2012 and 2014.ConclusionsFindings suggest a general decline in drug offers among adolescents in the U.S., but racial/ethnic differences in prevalence were identified. This underscores the importance of further efforts to understand the racial/ethnic differences in drug offers and suggests the need for culturally-sensitive drug prevention programs.
Highlights
Being offered illicit drugs is a critical factor leading to drug initiation and other psychosocial risk behaviors among adolescents in the United States
Trends in illicit drug offers among adolescents Overall, there was a 24.5% decrease in drug offers overall, from 16.3% (15.6–17.0) in 2002 to 12.3% (11.5–13.2) in 2014 (AOR = 0.970, 95% CI = 0.965–0.975) (See Table 1)
The decreasing trends were observed for both males and females, but the size of the reduction was much larger among males (29.5%) than females (16.5%)
Summary
Being offered illicit drugs is a critical factor leading to drug initiation and other psychosocial risk behaviors among adolescents in the United States. The delinquency-related risk factors include underage use of alcohol and tobacco (Caris et al 2009; Wagner & Anthony 2002), theft (Andrea & Pape 2015), and aggressiveness (Rosenberg & Anthony 2001), supported by the externalizing spectrum of behavior that posits adolescents of higher externalizing behaviors are more likely to be exposed to illicit drugs (Krueger et al 2002; Vaughn et al 2014). Religiosity is expected to act as a protective factor of drug offers given its positive impacts on self-control as well as buffering effects between risk behaviors and substance use (Salas-Wright et al 2016, 2017a)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
