Personality, attitudinal, and social correlates of drug use

Retrospective data on 106 young people collected 10 years prior to this study as well as contemporaneous data were analyzed to determine predictors of drug use. Results indicate that personality factors fared poorly in distinguishing users from nonusers with the exception of anxiety and IQ for hallucinogen use only. Users tended to have high IQs and low anxiety. Social factors seem to play a major role in the spread of drug use. The initiator of the adolescent into drug use is not a group leader but rather an equal status peer group member. Factors in the spread of drug use follow similar patterns for licit as well as illicit drugs.