Gender Differences in Consequences of Teenage Drug Use

描述(由申请人提供)：本研究的目的是考察青少年吸毒对成年后社会角色功能的影响的性别差异。这项研究将更好地理解青春期涉及毒品的行为生活方式如何影响一个人在青春期之后的社交和人际发展以及角色履行，特别是男性和女性受到的影响是如何不同的。由于问题的广泛性、持续使用毒品的潜在破坏性影响以及缺乏关于长期后果的充分研究和理论，强调了关注青少年吸毒后果的重要性。虽然人们普遍认为吸毒是有问题的，但缺乏证据(1)证明青少年吸毒的负面影响，(2)将特定药物与特定结果联系起来，以及(3)比较男性和女性的结果。探索实验性药物使用是否会产生负面的长期后果，并了解其后果的性别差异，将有助于改善预防计划和其他公共卫生活动。 尽管潜在后果的范围是巨大的，但这项基于生命历程理论的拟议研究将侧重于三个领域的结果：(1)工作功能，(2)社会融合(社区参与和友谊形成)，(3)家庭形成和稳定(婚姻和育儿)。拟议的研究将侧重于性别差异，并特别注意吸毒的女青少年的后果。很少有人致力于了解吸毒的后果如何因性别而异。青春期女孩越来越多地参与吸毒；然而，尚不清楚对男性和女性造成的后果是否相同。由于历史上男性和女性在社会中扮演着不同的角色，预计青少年吸毒对女性的影响在以后的生活中将不同于男性。 这项研究将通过对芝加哥伍德劳恩社区一年级学生的整个队列的采访收集到的数据进行检查，这些学生从1966-67年一直跟踪调查到现在。参与者是非洲裔美国人，在研究开始时，他们大多处于经济上的不利地位。总体而言，他们报告说，他们广泛参与毒品使用，并在后来取得了不同程度的成功。采用结构方程建模和回归分析青少年吸毒对多个结果变量的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of the study is to examine gender differences in the effects of adolescent drug use on young adulthood social role functioning. This study will provide a better understanding of how a behavioral life-style of drug involvement during adolescence affects an individual's social and interpersonal development and role fulfillment beyond the years of adolescence, and specifically, how males and females are impacted differently. The importance of focusing on the consequence of adolescent drug use is highlighted by the widespread nature of the problem, the potential devastating effects of continued use, and the lack of adequate research and theory on long-term consequences. Though it is generally assumed that drug use is problematic, there is a lack of evidence (1) demonstrating negative effects of drug use in adolescence, (2) connecting specific drugs to specific outcomes, and (3) comparing outcomes in males and females. An exploration of whether experimental drug use has negative long-term consequences and understanding gender differences in its consequences will help improve prevention programs and other public health activities. Though the range of potential consequences is tremendous, the proposed study, based on Life Course Theory, will focus on outcomes in three areas: (1) job functioning, (2) social integration (community involvement and friendship formation), and (3) family formation and stability (marriage and parenting). The proposed study will focus on gender differences with particular attention to consequences for female adolescents who use drugs. Very little effort has been devoted to understanding how the consequences of drug use differ by gender. Adolescent girls are increasingly becoming involved in using drugs; however, there is a lack of knowledge of whether the consequences are the same for males and females. As men and women have historically had different roles in society, it is expected that adolescent drug use will affect females differently than males later in life. This study will be conducted by examining data collected through interviews with an entire cohort of first graders in the Woodlawn community of Chicago who were followed from 1966-67 to the present time. Participants are African American and were mostly economically disadvantaged when the study began. Overall, they reported extensive involvement in drug use and varying degrees of later success. Structural equation modeling and regression will be employed to analyze the effect of adolescent drug use on multiple outcome variables.