Confirmatory analyses of reasons for experiencing psychoactive drugs during adolescence.

This study established empirically defined reasons for experiences with psychoactive drugs by adolescents. By means of cross-validating procedures involving a series of principal component analyses of data obtained from three separate sample groups, three common motives or reasons for trying/taking drugs were derived: a tension-reduction, or coping motive; a drug-effect motive; and a peer-related motive. The implications of the findings for further research and for treatment and prevention programs are reviewed.