title: Factor structure of common drug usage.
abstract: The correlated usage of commonly employed, legal drugs was examined in a sample of 377 American and 908 Swedish adults. Measures of alcohol, tranquilizer, sleeping pill, and coffee or tea consumption were submitted to a principal components factor analysis with Varimax rotation. The resultant three factors were characterized by (1) heavy drinking in general and beer consumption specifically (ALCFAC), (2) the use of tranquilizers and sleeping medications (TSFAC) and (3) the consumption of coffee and tea (CTFAC). Factor structure profiles for ALCFAC and TSFAC were more stable than CTFAC across nationalities, sexes, and cohorts. Profiles for Swedish smokers and never-smokers were very similar; for Americans, however, profiles for never-smokers were more similar to Swedish profiles than to those of American smokers. Factor scores were computed to examine the relationship between tobacco use and levels of the factors by means of analysis of variance. In Swedes, ALCFAC and CTFAC levels varied with smoking status, whereas ALCFAC and TSFAC levels with smoking status in Americans.
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D003069:Coffee; D003120:Colorado; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D008297:Male; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D012737:Sex Factors; D013548:Sweden; D013662:Tea; D014026:Nicotiana; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents
chemical_list: D003069:Coffee; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D013662:Tea; D014149:Tranquilizing Agents