Extent of drug use as a function of number of risk factors.

Tested the hypothesis that extent of drug use is an increasing function of the number of etiological variables rather than any particular set of them. 1,960 high school students completed a questionnaire that included the Johns Hopkins Symptom Checklist and a drug and alcohol use survey. A highly significant linear relation was found between usage and number of risk factors. 24 combinations of risk factors were represented in the sample, but none accounted for more than 21% of Ss with multiple risk factors. Ss who exhibited 4 risk factors proved to be 4? times more likely to report heavy drug use than would be expected from the base rate of heavy drug use. These findings support a general rather than a specific coping model of drug abuse. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)