The effect of perceived neighborhood setting on self-reported tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use among inner-city minority junior high school youth.

The relationship between neighborhood setting and drug use appears to be drug specific. For alcohol and tobacco a knowledge of peer (friends') use was highly predictive of personal use, independent of how tough or drug involved the neighborhood was thought to be, but quite dependent on neighborhood perceptions for personal marijuana use, becoming more predictive as the neighborhood was perceived as tougher and more drug involved. Knowledge of spare-time activities was predictive of tobacco and marijuana use (independent of neighborhood) but not predictive for alcohol use. The data suggest that because the relationships are complex, intervention/prevention strategies must not only be drug specific but must proceed on many fronts simultaneously. Some suggestions are offered, along with a discussion of findings which may help identify non-users and users in the same population.