U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

SOCIAL LEARNING AND ADOLESCENT DEVIANCE ABSTENTION: TOWARD UNDERSTANDING THE REASONS FOR INITIATING, QUITTING, AND AVOIDING DRUGS

NCJ Number
142070
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: (1993) Pages: 101-125
Author(s)
L T Winfree Jr; C S Sellers; D L Clason
Date Published
1993
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the ability of variables based on social learning theory to distinguish among abstainers, current drug abusers, and former drug abusers in a sample of 1,688 middle school and high school students in two widely separated nonurban communities.
Abstract
One site was a small southwestern city with a population of 16,000, located approximately 35 miles from a metropolitan area with a population of more than 2 million. The second site was an isolated community of 2,500 residents in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, where the residents either ran small family farms or local businesses serving tourists or seasonal recreational trade. The target population included all students in grades 6 through 12 in each community. Results indicated that social learning variables clearly distinguish abstainers from current users but are less able to distinguish former users from current users or abstainers. Tables, appended table, and 78 references (Author summary modified)