Perception of friends' use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana among urban schoolchildren: a longitudinal analysis.
Relations between adolescents' substance use and perceptions of their friends' substance use were examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally in a predominantly African-American school district. Fourth- and fifth-grade students were surveyed and tracked for 4 consecutive years. Cross-sectional samples included 3,073, 5,955, 7,701, and 6,616 students in years 1 to 4, respectively; the longitudinal sample included 1,802 students surveyed in every year. Self-reported substance use of friends and classmates also was assessed. Perceived friends' substance use had a stronger association with prior substance use than friends' self-reported substance use in every year. Perceived family use and classmates' self-reported use also made independent contributions to regression models. Longitudinal structural equation analyses indicated that perceived friends' use is more likely to be a product of an adolescent's previous substance use than a precursor of subsequent substance use. The findings contradict prevailing theories on the influence of peers on substance use.
Iannotti
R J
RJ
Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, D.C., USA.
Bush
P J
PJ
Weinfurt
K P
KP
D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010379:Peer Group; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D012938:Social Perception; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D014504:Urban Health