Substance abuse and psychosocial risk factors among teenagers: associations with sex, age, ethnicity, and type of school.

The search for the one causal influence to account for youthful drug use has always failed. An alternate approach is advocated and tested that relates exposure to and impact of various types of psychosocial risk factors to understanding substance use. Data were obtained from 2,926 students in the 7th, 9th, and 11th grades. Twelve risk factors were selected and tested. These 12 variables were able to explain over 50% of the variance in a measure of general drug use. A unit-weighted, summed index of risk factors was linearly related to use and abuse (heavy use) of cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, hard drugs, and a composite substance use score. Differential exposure to and impact of risk factors on drug-taking behaviors were tested for differences by sex, age, ethnicity, and type of school attending. Patterns of exposure were somewhat different than patterns of vulnerability and impact, and can partially account for the status-group differences in drug use.