@article{f7222f7bf03e4811a8737fd7760c16f1,
title = "Early predictors of age at first use of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes",
abstract = "This paper is a report of the relationships between various measures of social adaptation to the first grade classroom and the age at which alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana were first used by teenagers who began elementary school in a poor black urban community on the South Side of Chicago. Prospective longitudinal community epidemiological data were collected periodically in first and third grades from consecutive total cohorts of children in the 1960s. The 1966-1967 population (cohort 3) was followed up at age 16 or 17. This population of 705 children is reported on here regarding early predictors of their first use of these substances. There are three main findings: 1. (1) boys tended to use all substances at an earlier age than girls; 2. (2) students who performed better on first grade IQ and Readiness tests tended to initiate substance use at an earlier age; 3. (3) girls (but not boys) who were rated by their first grade teachers as shy or having learning problems tended to initiate use at a later age. The relationships of these findings to our past investigations of paths leading to substance use are discussed.",
author = "Fleming, {John P.} and Kellam, {Sheppard G.} and Brown, {C. Hendricks}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to acknowledge the crucial contributions of the Woodlawn community, its families and children, and the community board members who over the last 19 years have provided support and guidance for this research and service enterprise. Particular thanks are due to Mrs. Rose Bates who continues to instruct us regardingc ommunity issues.T he faculty and staffs of the Woodlawn public schools and Catholic elementary schools and those of the Chicago Public High Schools madec rucial contributions. Over the years Dr. Curtis Melnick, former Associate Superintendent of the Chicago Board of Education, was very important to this project. Jeannette Branch, the former Director of the Woodlawn Mental Health Center and later, during the follow-up, of the South Side Youth Program, has been involved in all aspectso f the researcha nd was responsible for the collection of the teacher ratings of social adaptational status. We are grateful for the assistance of our colleagues, past and present, at the Social Psychiatry Study Center in many aspectso f the study. Margaret Ensminger was for many years associated irector and is still a senior scientist here. She helped design the long-term follow-up and was its field supervisor. Mark Schmidt rendered assistancew ith the literature review and Elizabeth Keller provided important bibliographic and editorial help. These studies have been supported by the following grants: State of Illinois Department of Mental Health, Grant Numbers17-224 and 17-322; Public Health Service, Grant Number MH-15760 and Research Scientist Development Award (Kellam), Grant Number l-KOl-MH-47596; the Maurice Falk Medical Fund; and National Institute on Drug Abuse, Grants DA-00787 and DA/HD-02591. Support in recent years for analyses of the follow-up data has been given by: Office of Human Development Services, Grant Number 9OCW643; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Contract Number NOl-HD-72821. John Fleming is supported by a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral training grant (T32 MH-14668) issued to the University of Chicago, the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center and the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute.",
year = "1982",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1016/0376-8716(82)90068-0",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "9",
pages = "285--303",
journal = "Drug and Alcohol Dependence",
issn = "0376-8716",
publisher = "Elsevier Ireland Ltd",
number = "4",
}
