The authors report on the relationship of early adolescent substance use (up to the time of the 16th birthday) to educational‐vocational performance in the early adulthood of 612 African‐American urban subjects. Voluminous prospective data were available on the behavior, test performance, and families of 612 urban African‐American subjects, from birth up to 7 years of age. Scarcer prospective data were available for school performance during later years of school. Control variables were derived from these data to determine the amount of variance in each dependent educational‐vocational outcome variable that was accounted for, independently of the amount of variance accounted for by early substance use. (American Journal on Addictions 1994; 3:325–336)
This report is from a longitudinal study of a community sample of African-American males (N = 197) on the relationship of the degree of earlier substance use/abuse up to average age 24, to vocational performance (employment and occupational level) 2 1/2 years later (at average age 26 1/2). The statistical analyses included numerous control variables developed from prospective data of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project, on the subjects and on their families from the subjects' birth to age 7, and from their school behavior and academic performance up to age 16, which may have influenced their vocational-occupational behavior during early adulthood. It was found that greater earlier marijuana use and greater earlier alcohol use predicted, to a significant degree, poorer occupational performance.
Gender differences in risk and protective factors for substance use/abuse in early adulthood were studied. Comprehensive systematic data on African-American males (N = 318) and females (N = 322), from birth to 7 years of age, were available from the National Collaborative Perinatal Study. These subjects were retrieved for assessment at average age 24. There are more differences between males and females than there are similarities in regard to the early childhood variables that predict substance use in early adulthood. However, high activity and intensity of response during infancy (measured at 8 months of age) was found to predict later substance use for both males and females. This type of behavior is considered by use to be a trait of temperament and to suggest the possibility of a genetic predisposition. More risk factors were found for female than for males. The risk factors for females were primarily of two types: 1) Related to experiences with mother and with the family environment; and 2) Poor levels of intellectual functioning and academic performance, and abnormal mental status.
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