Abstention from Drug Use and Delinquency Increasing among Youth in the United States, 2002-2014

• Published in: Substance use & misuse Vol. 53; no. 9; pp. 1468 - 1481
• Main Authors: Vaughn, Michael G., Nelson, Erik J., Oh, Sehun, Salas-Wright, Christopher P., DeLisi, Matt, Holzer, Katie J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 29.07.2018; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Abstainers; Abstinence; Adolescents; African Americans; crime trends; Drug abuse; Drug use; High risk; Hispanic Americans; Juvenile delinquency; Low income groups; Mirroring; Parental control; Parents & parenting; Polls & surveys; Risk behavior; Substance abuse; Youth; youth violence; United States > US; Abstainers; drug use; adolescents; youth violence; crime trends
• ISSN: 1082-6084; 1532-2491
• DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2017.1413392

Background: Trends in abstaining from substance use and delinquency among adolescent's ages 12-17 in the United States was examined. Methods: Data was derived from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) involving non-Hispanic white, African American, and Hispanic respondents (n = 98,620) and spanning the years 2002-2014. Logistic regression was used to examine significance of trend year and correlates of low-risk and high-risk behavioral groups relative to abstaining. Results: Overall, the prevalence of abstaining was 47.56% between 2002 and 2014. Prevalence increased significantly among all adolescents from 44.85% in 2002 to 53.58% in 2014. Relative to abstainers nonabstaining youth were more likely to be male, and report lower household income, poorer grades, depression, and lower levels of parental affirmation and control. Conclusions: Findings indicate that there is a corresponding increase in abstaining mirroring the recent decreases found in adolescent drug use found in national surveys.