Examined drug preferences of a group of active multiple drug abusers referred for treatment. Nearly half the respondents preferred drugs other than type they most frequently used. Preferences were related to method of administration. Results suggest preference is one among several determinants of drug use. (Author/BEF)

Content analyzed self-reports from 704 college students and used results to develop Marijuana Effect Expectancy Questionnaire and Cocaine Effect Expectancy Questionnaire. Identified six marijuana expectancies and five cocaine expectancies. Drug effect expectancies distinguished between patterns of nonuse and varying degrees of use of these two…

Examined the nonmedical utilization rates of selected substances among an adolescent population of students (N=2,036). Analysis of psychosocial variables indicated that age at first use; frequency of use of marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes; and amount of available spending money were significant predictors of drug use. (LLL)

Examined adolescents' current use of substances and their interactions with peers and significant adults. Users of various substances associated with other individuals who used the same substances. Adolescent drug users do not appear to form subcultures delineated from nonuser subcultures along interaction dimensions other than that of drug use.…

Students completed California Psychological Inventory, Adjective Check List, and drug-use questionnaire. Continuous nonusers never disclosed marijuana use. Switched nonusers did not disclose marijuana use initially but did so later. Users disclosed marijuana use initially and later. Marijuana use can be predicted by patterns of reported…

Assessed the relative influences of sensation-seeking or tension-reduction motives on drinking behavior. Data indicated a strong positive relationship between sensation seeking and alcohol use, whereas the relationship between anxiety and alcohol use was nonsignificant. The importance of sensation-seeking motives to a comprehensive motivational…

Examined interrelationships among sex, race, drug-use patterns, and personality variables in chronic users of illicit drugs. Blacks were characterized by lower levels of sensation seeking, less psychopathology, use of fewer drug categories, and later drug use than Whites. Use and personality patterns among women differed little from men.…

Examined subgroups of people in relation to specific types of drugs. Multiple drug clusters identified here yielded six basic drug clusters. Typology of drug abusers was developed by proximity cluster analysis. Set of psychosocial measures was differentially related to use of types of drugs and drug abusers. (Author/BEF)

Problem behavior theory predicts that norm-violating attitudes and activities reflect syndrome. Findings from community sample revealed that criminal behavior was more determined by general deviance in adulthood than in young adulthood, whereas sexual involvement became less determined by common factors between these times. Drug use and low social…

Self-report data were examined to identify personality-attitudinal items that correlated with polydrug use. Analysis showed that 20 items, when treated as a scale, were reliable, diagnostically accurate, and applicable to either sex. This is an initial step in development of scale for indirect measurement of use of psychotropics. (Author/BEF)