The Growing Disparity in Illegal Drug Use Across Socioeconomic Strata

描述(由申请人提供)：在过去的二十年里，非法药物使用的差距在过去20年里显著增加，这种差距使较低社会经济阶层的个人处于不利地位。新的证据表明，这一增长在很大程度上是由于社会经济地位(SES)对药物使用的影响发生了变化，而不是因为药物使用对SES的负面影响是随着时间的推移而积累的。然而，造成这种日益扩大的差距的与SES相关的影响在很大程度上仍然不得而知。。这项研究的目的有三个。首先，它将解决目前证据的局限性，这些证据表明，非法药物使用在社会经济阶层之间的差距越来越大。利用现有的最新数据，该项目将：(A)更新对1998年以来可卡因社会经济趋势的分析；(B)审查尚未审查的非法药物中迄今的社会经济趋势，如大麻、甲基苯丙胺、摇头丸和“钝器”；1(C)审查日益扩大的差距是否源于不同的社会经济阶层的不同发生率和/或不同的吸毒持续时间；以及(D)审查除教育之外的社会经济指标。这些分析将使用全国药物使用与健康调查，这是一项具有全国代表性的、对每年进行的药物使用情况的横断面调查，尽管在1979至1988年间，它只每三年进行一次。其次，这项研究将预测非法药物流行率随时间的变化，以及非法吸毒者特征随时间的变化。我们使用一个“创新扩散”框架，该框架预测非法药物等创新的使用者分为不同的类别，如“创新者”、“先行者”和“后行者”。这些类别中的每个类别的人在社会人口、心理和环境特征方面都被认为是不同的。此外，吸毒者在某一时间点的概况有望预测未来吸毒的流行率。该项目的第三个目标是追踪传播框架所强调的非法药物使用的关键预测因素在多大程度上植根于早期生命过程。利用一项跟踪调查838名儿童从一年级到30岁的纵向调查，这项分析将检查目前非法药物使用的预测因素在生命过程中延续了多长时间。我们预计，许多早期预测因素尚未与后来的吸毒联系在一起，因为目前非法吸毒者的概况，包括社会经济地位低等因素，直到最近才出现。该项目的结果将为旨在降低所有社会经济阶层非法药物使用流行率的政策和干预方案提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A disparity in illegal drug use that disadvantages individuals in the lower socioeconomic strata has significantly increased in the last two decades. New evidence indicates that this increase results in large part from a changing influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on drug use, and not from a negative influence of drug use on SES that has accumulated over time. However, the SES-related influences responsible for this growing disparity remain largely unknown. . The aims of this study are threefold. First, it will address limitations in current evidence on the growing disparity of illegal drug use across socioeconomic strata. Using the most current, available data the project will (a) update analyses of socioeconomic trends in cocaine past 1998 (b) examine socioeconomic trends up to the present in illegal drugs that have not yet been examined, such as marijuana, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and 'blunts,1 (c) examine whether the growing disparity sterns from differential incidence and/or differential duration of drug use across socioeconomic strata, and (d) examine SES indicators other than education. These analyses will use the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally- representative, cross-sectional survey of drug use administered yearly, although between 1979 and 1988 it was administered only every third year. Second, the study will predict both changes in the prevalence of illegal drugs over time and also changes in the characteristics of illegal drug users over time. We use a "Diffusion of Innovation" framework, which predicts that users of an innovation such as illegal drugs fall into distinct categories such as "innovators," "early adopters," and "late adopters." People in each of these categories are theorized to differ from each other in terms of sociodemographic, psychological, and environmental characteristics. Furthermore, the profiles of drug users at one point in time are expected to predict the prevalence of drug use in the future. The third aim of the project is to trace the extent to which the key predictors of illegal drug use, as highlighted by the Diffusion framework, have their roots in the early life course. Using a longitudinal survey that has followed 838 children from 1st grade to age 30, the analysis will examine how far back in the life course current predictors of illegal drug use extend. We expect that many early predictors have not yet been linked to later drug use because the current profile of illegal drug users, which includes factors such as low socioeconomic status, did not emerge until recently. Results from this project will inform policy and intervention programs aimed at reducing the prevalence of illegal drug use across all socioeconomic strata.