EPIDEMIOLOGY/FAMILY IN DRUG USE: THE SECOND GENERATION

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This study will investigate the epidemiology of drug use in adulthood and across generations. Individuals in a critical child- rearing phase of their lives will be examined to determine the consequences of drug use on individuals and their families. We will survey twice a longitudinal cohort of men and women in their thirties, and a subgroup of their spouses and children. The cohort, based on a representative random sample of former high school students in New York State, has been followed over a thirteen year period, since 1971. As individuals progress through the life cycle, they have to master and fulfill different social tasks and responsibilities. One new major responsibility facing adults is child-rearing. The earlier surveys were conducted when respondents were adolescents (15-16 years old) and early adults, at ages 24-25 and 28-29. This sample now provides a unique opportunity for determining intergenerational consequences of drug use: how parental involvement with drugs affects parenting and the children's behaviors. We now focus on two major consequences of drug use for individuals in their early thirties and for members of the second generation: (1) family functioning, especially the parents' child- rearing practices and the children's psychosocial adjustment and involvement with drugs, and (2) the psychosocial consequences for the individual user. The drugs of interest include legal drugs, cigarettes and alcohol, illicit drugs, especially marijuana and cocaine, and medically prescribed psychotropic drugs. Two follow-up activities are planned, in 1989 and 1991. The targets for the 1989 data collection inlcude the cohort of 1,222 men and women, aged 33-34, formerly enrolled in NYS public secondary schools, last contacted in 1984; their spouses when a child 6-17 is in the household (N=389); and oldest child aged 9-17 (N=296). In 1991, interviews will be carried out with focal respondents when an oldest child 6-19 is in the household (N=545), their spouses (N=463) and oldest child 9-19 (N=393). At both times, teachers will be asked to fill out a questionnaire about the child. The longitudinal design of the two surveys will make it possible to chart the children's developmental patterns of involvement in drugs and to identify risk factors for their behaviors.