Alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and sex: an analysis of risky behaviors among young adults

Abstract

This paper reexamines data from two previous surveys. It looks at self-reported alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use and sexual risk-taking among three subgroups of young adults. All subjects (N = 1,387) were aged 20-30. The samples consisted of nurses in the Lothian Region, and residents in Muirhouse (Edinburgh) and Easterhouse (Glasgow). Factor analysis revealed that risk-taking behavior was neither entirely general nor entirely specific. Although there was some tendency for a risk-taker in one area to be a risk-taker in others, five fairly distinct types of risk-taking could be distinguished. These included sexual risk-taking, illicit use of drugs, and excessive alcohol consumption. The samples differed in the extent to which they indulged in the different types of risk-taking, and various other predictors of these behaviors were found. Different patterns of association emerged in relation to specific subgroups of respondents.