Demographic Variables and Recreational Substance Use among College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between demographic variables and recreational substance use within the college population. Eight hundred thirty-two college-aged students were given the Wellness Activity Profile, a questionnake that includes sections yielding demographic and recreational substance usage data. Discriminant analyses of the data indicated that persons using recreational substances differed significantly from non-users. Marijuana users differed from non-users on parental income, high school grade point average, gender, and political orientation, while no demographic differences were found between cocaine users and non-users. Composite substance users differed from non-users on political orientation, parental income, and gender.The widespread pattern of recreational substance use has recently gained national attention. No longer is drug use considered to be exclusively a problem of the "down and out," but is increasingly being associated with the educated and financially stable [ 1 ] . Usage among women has also increased, resulting in a converging of the drug use patterns for the sexes. Additionally, the concurrent use of two or more substances is increasing [ 2 ] .Clayton identified several factors that may influence recreational substance use [ 2 ] : 1) reduced parental supervision and influence, 2 ) willingness to experiment, 3) desire to be accepted by peers, and 4) access to more money and status. These factors are also aspects of college life, a period during which young 71 0 1988. Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

Estimating a Logit Model With Randomized Data: The Case of Cocaine Use

“…The maximum likelihood estimates of / 3 are given in Table 4. Since there appears to be considerable doubt about the true model (Carlson & Davis, 1988;Forney et al, 1990), four different models are estimated, after imposing various zero restrictions on the ps in equation (4). Each model is estimated using data from both survey types and the parameter estimates are examined for robustness across survey type and model specification.…”

“…5 .05) and a low LFU=.05. The goodness of fit measures can be compared to Carlson & Davis (1988) who fail to find any statistically significant covariates for cocaine use and Forney, et al (1990) who report a quite small coefficient of determination of .14 in stepwise regression estimates.…”

“…The DQ estimate of .08 is similar to some recently reported DQ survey results. Carlson & Davis (1988) report that 35% of college students admit to having used cocaine at least once, while 12% admit to being current, frequent users. Forney et al (1990) report that 14% of first-year medical students admit to using cocaine in the last year.…”

A Multivariate Regression Analysis of Adolescent Multiple Drug Use in Two Western Canadian Provinces

“…The article also examines further the results of previous studies [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] which indicated that the use of any particular drug correlates with the concurrent or subsequent use of other drugs as part of the adolescent drug progression 7,[14][15][16] or propensity to use drugs. 10 This study is based on the results from the PRIDE (Parent Resources Institute for Drug Education) CANADA Drug Prevalence Questionnaire completed by 18,685 Grades 9 through 12 students in two Western Canadian provinces in the fall of 1995-96.…”