Female adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use: similarities and differences in patterns of use

Five categories of variables were examined as predictors of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use in a sample of 1,416 girls aged 13 to 17 years in Northwestern Ontario. A similar pattern of unique predictors emerged for the three drugs for three of the categories: the concurrent use of another drug, conventional educational attitudes and behaviors, and rebellious behaviors. A different pattern was found for the social and demographic categories between the inhaled drugs and alcohol. These differences emphasize the need to determine the specific predictors of drug use for each substance before planning regionally based drug prevention programs.