A Cohort-Sequential Panel Study of Drug Use, Ages 19-45

描述(由申请人提供)：建议进行一系列队列顺序小组研究，使用具有全国代表性的高中毕业生大样本，从高中毕业到45岁，考察物质使用和相关因素在整个生命过程和历史时期的变化。这项研究将考察社会和环境因素和过程，包括可能解释变化的生命过程转变。目标样本是从监测未来(MTF)调查(每个队列2400名受访者)的高中高年级参与者的毕业班中随机抽取的。高成本效益的邮寄调查将在高中毕业后一至十二年(至30岁)每两年进行一次，之后每五年(至45岁)进行一次。研究目标包括：(1)监测普通人群中重要部分的物质使用情况，特别是包括美国大学生；(2)区分发生的三种不同类型的变化--时期、年龄和队列；以及(3)研究与这些不同类型的变化相关的原因、后果和发展模式。每种类型都有不同的决定因素和不同的作用时间，而且大多数药物都会发生这三种类型的药物。可能解释历史趋势和群体差异的因素也将受到监测。其他目标包括记录中年期间吸毒和相关态度的自然历史，确定社会角色和社会环境的哪些转变有助于吸毒和相关态度，以及确定这些角色和环境的哪些特征最具影响力。这项研究将考察其他假想的毒品使用心理、行为和社会决定因素(包括对毒品的态度和信念、同伴规范、反广告和角色建模)的重要性，以及毒品使用的一系列潜在后果(包括身体健康、心理健康、地位获得和角色表现)。调查人员将继续为其他人将MTF数据用于各种研究目的提供便利。研究结果将对理解和预防从青春期到中年的药物使用和滥用具有重要意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A series of cohort-sequential panel studies is proposed to examine changes in substance use and related factors across the life course and across historical period, using large nationally representative samples of high school graduates, from the end of high school through age 45. The study will examine social and environmental factors and processes, including life-course transitions that may explain change. The target samples are drawn randomly from graduating classes of high school senior participants from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) surveys (2400 respondents per cohort). Highly cost-efficient mailed surveys will be administered biennially one to twelve years past high school (to age 30), and once every five years thereafter (to age 45). Research objectives include: (1) monitoring substance use in important segments of the general population, including, in particular, American college students; (2) distinguishing among three different types of change taking place -- period, age, and cohort; and, (3) studying the causes, consequences, and developmental patterns associated with these different types of change. Each type has different sets of determinants and different timing of action, and all three types have been found to occur for most drugs. Factors that may explain historical trends and cohort differences will also be monitored. Additional objectives include documenting the natural history of drug use and related attitudes through middle adulthood, determining what transitions in social roles and social environments contribute to drug use and related attitudes, and determining what features of those roles and environments are most influential. The study will examine the importance of other hypothesized psychological, behavioral, and social determinants of drug use (including attitudes and beliefs about drugs, peer norms, counter-advertising, and role-modeling), as well as a range of potential consequences of drug use (including physical health, psychological well-being, status attainment, and role performance). The investigators will continue to facilitate use of MTF data by others for a variety of research purposes. Study results will have major implications for understanding and preventing drug use and abuse from adolescence through middle adulthood.