Personality, Attitudinal, and Social Correlates of Drug Use

Abstract

Retrospective data on 106 young people collected 10 yr prior to this study and contemporaneous data were analyzed to determine predictors of drug use. Personality factors fared poorly in distinguishing users from nonusers with the exception of anxiety and IQ for hallucinogen use only. Users tended to have high IQ and low anxiety. Social factors seem to play a major role in the spread of drug use. The initiator of the adolescent into drug use is not a group leader but rather an equal status peer group member. Factors in the spread of drug use follow similar patterns for legal and illicit drugs.