A Model of School Problems, Academic Failure, Alcohol Initiation, and the Relationship to Adult Heroin Injection

作者：Trenz Rebecca C^*; Harrell Paul; Scherer Michael; Mancha Brent E; Latimer William W

来源：Substance Use & Misuse, 2012, 47(10): 1159-1171.

DOI：10.3109/10826084.2012.686142

• alcohol initiation
• heroin injection
• structural equation modeling
• adolescent behavior

The current study uses structural equation modeling to investigate factors associated with alcohol initiation and injection heroin use. Baseline data from the NEURO-HIV Epidemiologic Study in Baltimore, Maryland, were used. Participants were 404 injection heroin users (M-age = 32.72) with a history of regular injection in their lifetime. Latent variables were created for self-reported school problems and academic failure. The final model indicated that greater school problems were associated with earlier alcohol initiation (beta = -0.22, p < .001) and earlier alcohol initiation was associated with greater frequency of recent heroin use (beta = -0.12, p < .05). Academic failure was directly related to greater frequency of recent heroin injection (beta = 0.15, p < .01). The results expand research investigating the relationship between adolescent behavior and illicit drug use in adulthood.

• 出版日期2012