Discusses the moral issues relating to surveillance of adolescent marijuana use and postulates a justification for clinical screening. Asserts that surveillance under a private physician offers a better chance for success than public health screening for marijuana use. (Author/ABB)

Compared behavior of college students who wore costumes on Halloween with those who did not. Findings from 805 females and 448 males surveyed over 5-year period revealed significant associations between dressing in costume and drinking alcohol and between masquerading with group and using marijuana and other drugs. Found no significant…

Investigated relationship between marijuana use, marijuana misuse, and personality among high school students (N=146) from middle- and upper-middle-class backgrounds. Results indicated relationship between personality characteristics of adolescents who were involved in marijuana use and misuse and adolescents who were not; there were discernible…

Sixteen 17-year-old kibbutz members, including 7 hashish smokers and 9 nonsmokers, assessed the probability that a young person of similar background would use drugs. It was found that hashish smokers assigned meaningful importance to a combined influence of personal predisposition and group pressure, while the nonsmokers considered only group…

Used unobtrusive methods to collect data on substance use from 320 Nigerian partygoers aged 14 through 25. Found that adolescents tended to use following drugs in decreasing order of frequency: alcohol, cigarettes. stimulants, cannabis, and sedative-hypnotics. Polydrug use, especially of alcohol, stimulants, and cigarettes, was common. (Author/NB)

Examined relationship of shyness and sociability to illicit substance use in 654 male high school students. Found that, in general, shy males were significantly more likely to use illicit substances than were not-shy peers. Shy, highly sociable males were significantly more likely to use hallucinogenic substances than were shy, less sociable males…

Examined effects of maternal employment on use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other drugs by ninth graders (n=48). Comparison of maternal employment patterns (full-time versus part-time versus not employed outside the home) indicated no significant differences in substance use behavior among adolescents. Findings support literature on…

Discusses adolescent marijuana use as an issue of concern to the community at large, noting that physicians now have the technology to identify marijuana use and thus are in a unique position to deal with the issue. Addresses the moral issues related to screening and surveillance of adolescent marijuana use and postulates the justification for…

Eighty-nine high school seniors completed a questionnaire on their feelings and activities, including their use of drugs. Adolescents with a low grade point average, high popularity, and high depression were more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and smoke marijuana than were their peers. Cigarette and alcohol use predicted marijuana use,…

Examined relationship between drug use and delinquent behavior among 348 high school males and 89 adjudicated delinquent males in maximum-security facility for violent and repeat offenders. Self-reported alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other illegal drug use were all significantly related to minor and violent delinquency for all 3 racial groups…

Used the "social deviance model" to investigate whether low self esteem (SE) was differentially related to substance use for respondents in varying cultural norms. Responses to intensity of tobacco, marijuana, alcohol and drug use, SE and cultural norm items from over 2,000 high school and college students failed to support this model. (KW)