Factors related to drug use by adolescents in urban areas of Mexico
Nazar-Beutelspacher, A.; Tapia-Conyer, R.; Villa-Romero, A.; León-Alvarez, G.; Medina-Mora, M.E.; Salvatierra-Izaba, B.
Salud Publica de Mexico 36(6): 646-654
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-3634 PMID: 7892640 Document Number: 433283
This is a retrospective study on teenagers from 14 to 17 years of age based on data from the National Survey on Drug Addiction conducted in 1988. The aim of this study was to discover the factors linked to drug consumption among Mexican urban teenagers. This paper reports prevalence rates (PR), raw and adjusted by gender as well as Cornfield's intervals (CI) of 95 per cent. For women, factors linked to drug use were: alcohol consumption (PR6.5, CI:1.5-28.3); father drug user (PR 3.2, CI:1.1-9.5). For men, factors linked to drug use were: age (PR 3.2; CI: 1.5-7.4); non religious practice (PR 2.7, CI: 1.2-6.4); acquaintances who are users of marihuana, cocaine or heroine-opium (PR 12.2, 6.6 and 7.0 respectively); and if the father, a brother or another relative are drug users (PR 4.1, 7.1 and 3.5 respectively). These findings show important gender differences in drug consumption patterns and linked factors. This paper brings out useful information for a complete understanding of this problem in Mexico.