The importance of fulfilling unmet needs of rural and urban adolescents with substance abuse.
OBJECTIVE
Because of the negative impact on health of drug and alcohol use, this study examined adolescent needs and substance use.


METHODS
Subjects (N = 191) were adolescents aged 14 to 19 in a rural and an urban high school. A modified version of the Need Subscale from the Addiction Research Center Maturation Scale measured a feeling of satisfaction related to meeting basic needs, and an investigator's prepared questionnaire elicited current use of alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana.


RESULTS
Individuals with feelings of unmet needs were more likely to be current drinkers. Rural/urban residence was not a significant predictor in a multivariate analysis, but religiosity was.


CONCLUSIONS
A feeling of unmet needs seems to be an important factor in adolescent substance use.
Mainous
R O
RO
School of Nursing, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA. Romain01@louisville.edu
Mainous
A G
AG
Martin
C A
CA
Oler
M J
MJ
Haney
A S
AS
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D017678:Sex Distribution; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014505:Urban Population