Source
Community-Based Intervention Research Group and the College of Health and Urban Affairs, School of Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, USA. gila@fiu.edu
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
We examined the associations among early-adolescent substance use, subsequent young-adult substance use disorders, and psychiatric disorders among a community sample of males.
METHODS:
Early-adolescent data were collected in classroom surveys (1990-1993), and young-adult data were collected in face-to-face interviews (1998-2000).
RESULTS:
We found strong associations between early-adolescent substance use and young-adult substance use disorders and psychiatric disorders. The magnitudes of these associations varied by racial/ethnic group and were strongest among African Americans and foreign-born Hispanics, who reported the lowest early-adolescent substance use.
CONCLUSIONS:
Early-adolescent substance use is most strongly associated with a later pattern of dysfunction among the racial/ethnic groups that reported the lowest levels of early use. The implications of our findings in the context of primary and secondary prevention are discussed.