Opportunities to use drugs and the transition to drug use among adolescents from Caracas, Venezuela

Few studies have examined exposure to drug use and the lag between exposure and use. This paper estimates prevalence of opportunity to use a substance, for use, and for use given an opportunity to use among a sample of Venezuelan adolescents. Several covariates on the opportunity to use and the tran...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of ethnicity in substance abuse Vol. 16; no. 2; p. 246
Main Authors Cox, Jr, Ronald B, Croff, Julie M, Washburn, Isaac J, Liu, Chao
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 03.04.2017
Subjects
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior - ethnology
Age Factors
Alcohol Drinking - ethnology
Female
Humans
Male
Marijuana Use - ethnology
Prevalence
Smoking - ethnology
Street Drugs
Substance-Related Disorders - ethnology
Venezuela - ethnology
substance use
Venezuela
gender
family
prevention
Adolescent
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Summary:Few studies have examined exposure to drug use and the lag between exposure and use. This paper estimates prevalence of opportunity to use a substance, for use, and for use given an opportunity to use among a sample of Venezuelan adolescents. Several covariates on the opportunity to use and the transition to use are also examined. Findings show that lifetime prevalence of substance use among Venezuelan adolescents increases dramatically and more closely resembles rates among US and European samples when having had an opportunity to use was taken into account. A majority of youth who transitioned to use did so the same year exposure occurred, and females had a shorter time difference compared to males. Covariates primarily predicted exposure rather than having used after controlling for exposure, and their effects varied by substance. Implications for prevention efforts are discussed.
ISSN:1533-2659
DOI:10.1080/15332640.2015.1133363