Health and Developmental Consequences of Youth Drug Abuse

Research Findings from May, 1999 Director's Report

This section lists selected summaries from NIDA funded research projects that investigate the developmental implications of drug use. The summaries provided were selected from recent issues of the Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse. For a more comprehensive listing of NIDA funded projects see the Director's Report.

Frequency of Cigarette Use by 7th Graders is a Strong Predictor of Dropping Out of High School

This study examines the impact of early adolescent drug use on subsequent school drop out in a sample of 4,390 adolescents from California and Oregon. Participants were initially surveyed in the 7th grade and again six years later when they should have completed 12th grade. Controlling for demographics, family structure, academic orientation, early deviance, and school environment, logistic regression analyses showed that frequency of cigarette use during 7th grade predicted dropping out of high school. Separate analyses by race/ethnicity replicated this finding for Asians, Blacks, and Whites, but not for Latinos. For Latinos, early marijuana use predicted dropping out. The results suggest that preventing or reducing the incidence of early smoking and marijuana use may help reduce the probability of dropping out of high school. Ellickson, P., Khanh B., Bell, R. and McGuigan, K. Does Early Drug Use Increase the Risk of Dropping Out of High School? Journal of Drug Issues, 28(2), 1998.