Variation in youthful risks of progression from alcohol and tobacco to marijuana and to hard drugs across generations

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Much research has documented that youthful substance use typically follows a sequence starting with use of alcohol or tobacco or both and potentially proceeding to marijuana and then hard drug use. This study explicitly examined the probabilities of progression through each stage and their covariates. METHODS: A secondary analysis of data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (1979-1997) was conducted with particular sensitivity to the nature of substance use progression, sampling procedures, and reliability of self-report data. RESULTS: Progression to marijuana and hard drug use was uncommon among persons born before World War II. The stages phenomenon essentially emerged with the baby boom and rose to a peak among persons born around 1960. Subsequently, progression risks at each stage declined. Progression risks were also higher among younger initiators of alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana use. CONCLUSIONS: The recent increase in youthful marijuana use has been offset by lower rates of progression to hard drug use among youths born in the 1970s. Dire predictions of future hard drug abuse by youths who came of age in the 1990s may be greatly overstated.

Community Perspectives on Drug/Alcohol Use, Concerns, Needs, and Resources in Four Washington State Tribal Communities

“…SUAD was also described as the result of complex processes and multiple causes. For example, consistent with a “gateway” model (Golub & Johnson, 2001), a likely process could begin with alcohol and/or marijuana experimentation in order to fit in with peers; enjoyment of the feeling and camaraderie leading to continued use, later use for emotional coping, use of other substances; and progression to unintentional abuse and dependence or addiction. There were also small differences between communities in reported SUAD risk factors.…”

A Model of School Problems, Academic Failure, Alcohol Initiation, and the Relationship to Adult Heroin Injection

“…In a review of the literature, only one study indicated that early age of alcohol use was associated with later IDU (Corsi, Winch, Kwaitkowski, & Booth, 2007) and one study indicated that the age of first alcohol use was significantly younger for injection drug users compared with non-injection drug users (Sherman et al, 2005). In addition, research has suggested that early onset of alcohol-related disorders may predict the use of heavier drugs (Golub & Johnson, 2001; Merrill, Kleber, Shwartz, Liu, & Lewis, 1999) as well as alcohol abuse/dependence or other drug dependence (Chen, Storr, & Anthony, 2009; Dawson, Goldstein, Chou, Ruan, & Grant, 2008; Grant, 1998; Grant & Dawson, 1997; Grant, Stinson, & Harford, 2001; King & Chassin, 2007) later in life.…”

The influence of cannabis motives on alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco use among treatment-seeking cigarette smokers

“…Moreover, cannabis is related to a myriad of negative outcomes, including psychological symptoms and disorders (Patton et al, 2002; Zvolensky et al, 2006), and tobacco smokers are more likely to use cannabis (Ford et al, 2002). Coupled with tobacco and alcohol use, cannabis use has adverse effects on fetal growth and development (Cornelius et al, 2002; Richardson et al, 1995), increases risk for harder drugs (Golub and Johnson, 2001), and negatively impacts educational achievements (Centers for Disease, 1991; Martin et al, 1992). Interventions for co-occuring substance use have demonstrated favorable effects (Chariot et al, 2014; Gmel et al, 2013; Laporte et al, 2014).…”