Trends in Adolescent Substance Use and Perception of Risk from Substance Use

Excerpt

Background: An adolescent's perception of the risks associated with substance use is an important determinant of whether he or she engages in substance use. Methods: NSDUH asks adolescents aged 12 to 17 how much people risk physical and other harm when they drink five or more alcoholic drinks once or twice a week, use marijuana once or twice a week, use cocaine once or twice a week, use LSD once or twice a week, and use heroin once or twice a week. This report presents estimates of youth aged 12 to 17 perceptions of great risk associated with substance use and past month use of associated substances. Results: The percentage of adolescents aged 12 to 17 who perceived great risk from having five or more alcoholic drinks once or twice a week increased from 38.2 percent in 2002 to 40.7 percent in 2011; during the same period, the rate of binge alcohol use among adolescents decreased from 10.7 to 7.4 percent. Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of adolescents who perceived great risk from smoking marijuana once or twice a week decreased from 54.6 to 44.8 percent, and the rate of past month marijuana use among adolescents increased from 6.7 to 7.9 percent. The percentages of adolescents reporting substance use in the past month were generally lower among those who perceived great risk from using substances than among those who did not perceive great risk. Conclusion: Understanding differences in the perception of risk for varying substances may be useful to policymakers, educators, and prevention program staff in making decisions about deploying prevention messages and what segments of the youth audience they should target.