Using questionnaire survey generated data from a single school district, this study investigated the effects of family factors, peer factors, school problem behaviors, and psychosocial factors on adolescents' use of or abstinence from alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Following a review of literature, a theoretical framework incorporating family socialization theory was use to operationalize variables, develop indices, and generate hypotheses to be tested, as well as develop a general model of adolescent alcohol and other drug use and abstinence, incorporating the predictor variables. Using SPSSx procedures, factor analysis was used to develop the indices; the hypotheses were tested using Oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and F-ratio tests associated with regression analysis. The path analysis models were developed using multiple regression analysis and bivariate decomposition tables. For both junior high school students and high school students, users of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs were found to score higher on the Family Factors index, the Peer Factors index, School Problems index, and the Psychosocial Factors index. The model differed between alcohol and marijuana users, defining the conditions under which an adolescent is more likely to use or abstain from marijuana. While both family and peer factors effected the adolescents' choices of use or abstinence, the strongest predictor of use/abstinence was the peer use and attitudes factor. Family factors tended to be stronger in the younger age/grade levels than in the higher age/grade levels, as predicted from the theoretical framework.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc331901 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | McBroom, James Randy, 1951- |
| Contributors | Kitchens, James A., Eve, Susan Brown, Seligmann, Gustav L., Singh, Raghu N., Webb, Billy R. |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | viii, 149 leaves : ill., Text |
| Rights | Public, McBroom, James Randy, 1951-, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. |
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