Self-generated drug outcomes in high-risk adolescents.

The perceived outcomes of drug use were studied in a sample of high-risk adolescents. Participants' self-generated responses provided the actual words they used to describe drug outcomes as well as associative frequency norms valuable for future research. The authors also compared outcomes in terms of class of outcome (positive vs. negative) and class of drug (alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, cocaine, speed, and LSD). Although the studied drugs have divergent pharmacological effects. participants self-generated some of the same outcomes (e.g., relaxation) across some of the drugs. In addition, outcomes self-generated as positive outcomes were very rarely also self-generated as negative outcomes. Finally, regressions revealed that self-generated responses were not predicted by ethnicity, gender, or previous drug use. Many drug use outcomes thus appeared to be available in memory regardless of previous drug use or other characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)