Predictive Factors for Illicit Drug Use Among Young People: A Literature Review (PDF; 370 KB)
Source: Great Britain Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate

The most extensive and consistent evidence relates to young people’s interaction with their families. The key predictors of drug use are parental discipline, family cohesion and parental monitoring. Some aspects of family structure such as large family size and low parental age are linked to adolescent drug use. There is also consistent evidence linking peer drug use and drug availability to adolescent drug use. There is extensive evidence on parental substance use, although some studies report no association while others indicate that the association is attenuated by strong family cohesion. Age is strongly associated with prevalence of drug use among young people reflecting a range of factors including drug availability, peer relationships and reduced parental monitoring. There is limited evidence suggesting that genetic factors account for a significant proportion of the variance in liability to use cannabis, however this interpretation has been criticised by other writers. There is a similar level of evidence linking self-esteem and hedonism to drug use. The available evidence indicates that higher levels of drug use are strongly associated with young people’s reasons for using drugs after controlling for risk factors.

Categories where evidence linking specific factors is mixed include: mental health, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), stimulant therapy, religious involvement, sport, health educator interventions, school performance, early onset of substance use and socio-economic status. For some of these categories there is evidence of indirect effects; for example, socio-economic status may influence parental monitoring which in turn influences drug use. The review did not consider any studies relating to previously identified risk and protective factors such as ethnicity or impulsivity.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 at 9:18 am and is filed under Mental health and substance abuse, Social and cultural issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.