Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jun;52(6):716-23.
doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.12.006. Epub 2013 Feb 25.

Prevalence and patterns of polysubstance use in a nationally representative sample of 10th graders in the United States

Kevin P Conway  1 , Genevieve C Vullo, Brandon Nichter, Jing Wang, Wilson M Compton, Ronald J Iannotti, Bruce Simons-Morton
Affiliations

Prevalence and patterns of polysubstance use in a nationally representative sample of 10th graders in the United States

Kevin P Conway et al. J Adolesc Health. 2013 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: The current study examines the prevalence and demographic correlates of self-reported substance use and identifies subgroups of polysubstance users among a cohort of United States 10th-grade students.

Methods: A nationally representative school-based cohort of United States 10th-grade students completed the NEXT Generation Health Study baseline survey in spring 2010 (N = 2,524).

Results: Past-year use of marijuana was most common among illicit drugs (26%), followed by misuse of medication (9%) and use of other illicit drugs (8%). During the past month, alcohol use was reported by more than one third (35%), binge drinking by 27%, and cigarette smoking by 19%. Results further show that substance use varied somewhat by demographic characteristics. Results from the latent class analysis of polysubstance use indicated a four-class solution as the best-fitting model; class 1 (59%) included the nonuser group; class 2 (23%) comprised the predominant alcohol user group; class 3 (11%) formed the predominant marijuana user group; and class 4 (8%) was characterized as the predominant polysubstance user group. Somatic and depressive symptoms varied significantly by class membership, with predominant polysubstance users reporting elevated levels of somatic and depressive symptoms.

Conclusions: The findings from this national study of 10th-grade students indicate high rates of substance and polysubstance use. The high level of depressive and somatic symptoms among polysubstance users indicates the need for mental health screening and referral.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: No conflicts of interest are reported.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Item Probability for Each Latent Class in the Four-Class Model and Associations with Depressive and Somatic Symptomatology Note. Classification of individuals was based on their most likely latent class membership; the model included demographic covariates. Two categories with different superscripts were significantly different in mean report of symptoms, according to Wald Chi-square test statistics at an alpha of 0.05. The response options for depressive symptoms were 1=never, 2=seldom, 3=sometimes, 4=often, 5=always; and the response options for somatic symptoms were 1=rarely or never, 2=about every month, 3=about every week, 4=more than once a week, 5=about every day.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Johnston LD, O’Malley PM, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE. Ann Arbor, Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan; 2012. Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2011.
    1. Mitchell CM, Plunkett M. The Latent Structure of Substance Use Among American Indian Adolescents: An Example Using Categorical Variables. American Journal of Community Psychology. 2000;28:105–125. - PubMed
    1. Connell C, Gilreath T, Aklin W, Brex R. Social-Ecological Influences on Patterns of Substance Use Among Non-Metropolitan High School Students. American Journal of Community Psychology. 2010;45:36–48. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Whitesell NR, Beals J, Mitchell CM, Novins DK, Spicer P, Manson SM. Latent class analysis of substance use: comparison of two American Indian reservation populations and a national sample. J Stud Alcohol. 2006;67:32–43. - PubMed
    1. Dierker LC, Vesel F, Sledjeski EM, Costello D, Perrine N. Testing the dual pathway hypothesis to substance use in adolescence and young adulthood. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2007;87:83–93. - PubMed

Publication types