title: Alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and sex: an analysis of risky behaviors among young adults.
abstract: This paper reexamines data from two previous surveys. It looks at self-reported alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use and sexual risk-taking among three subgroups of young adults. All subjects (N = 1,387) were aged 20-30. The samples consisted of nurses in the Lothian Region, and residents in Muirhouse (Edinburgh) and Easterhouse (Glasgow). Factor analysis revealed that risk-taking behavior was neither entirely general nor entirely specific. Although there was some tendency for a risk-taker in one area to be a risk-taker in others, five fairly distinct types of risk-taking could be distinguished. These included sexual risk-taking, illicit use of drugs, and excessive alcohol consumption. The samples differed in the extent to which they indulged in the different types of risk-taking, and various other predictors of these behaviors were found. Different patterns of association emerged in relation to specific subgroups of respondents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plant
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plant
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duffy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs