Biomaterial Database

Drug use prevalence in a rural school-age population: the New Hampshire survey. 1995

M Stevens, and F Youells, and F Whaley, and S Linsey

Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth University, Hanover, NH 03755-3861, USA.

Pre-adolescent and adolescent drug use is a major public health concern in the United States. Although we have good prevalence data on some adolescents, we have little information on pre-adolescents, young adolescents, and rural children. We conducted a survey of 4,406 children in grades 4-12 in rural New Hampshire in 1990. Students completed annual self-report surveys on demographic characteristics, drug use, and psychosocial risk factors. These children are initiating drug use in elementary school. Alcohol is the preferred drug for both genders at all grade levels, followed by cigarettes, marijuana, and spitting tobacco. Current use of these drugs escalates in the sixth through ninth grades. Lifetime prevalence and 30-day prevalence increase slowly through high school. Most children who are going to use drugs have begun by the tenth grade. In this rural state, children's drug preferences are similar to those of other pre-adolescents and adolescents. Rural students have equal, and in some cases higher, lifetime and current use prevalence of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco in comparison with national samples.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009513	New Hampshire	State bounded on the north by Canada, on the east by Maine, on the west by Vermont, and on the south by Massachusetts.
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D000428	Alcohol Drinking	Behaviors associated with the ingesting of ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, including social drinking.	Alcohol Consumption,Alcohol Intake,Drinking, Alcohol,Alcohol Drinking Habits,Alcohol Drinking Habit,Alcohol Intakes,Consumption, Alcohol,Drinking Habit, Alcohol,Habit, Alcohol Drinking,Habits, Alcohol Drinking,Intake, Alcohol
D000435	Alcoholic Intoxication	An acute brain syndrome which results from the excessive ingestion of ETHANOL or ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.	Drunkenness,Intoxication, Alcoholic,Drunkennesses
D012424	Rural Population	The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.	Rural Residence,Rural Communities,Rural Spatial Distribution,Communities, Rural,Community, Rural,Distribution, Rural Spatial,Distributions, Rural Spatial,Population, Rural,Populations, Rural,Residence, Rural,Rural Community,Rural Populations,Rural Residences,Rural Spatial Distributions