Monitoring the Future. National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2009. Volume II, College Students & Adults Ages 19-50. NIH Publication Number 10-7585
Author: Johnston, Lloyd D.
Date: 2010-11-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: College Students,Lysergic Acid Diethylamide,Incidence,High School Graduates,Young Adults,Adults,Social Influences,Narcotics,Drug Abuse,Drug Use,Futures (of Society),Surveys,Secondary School Students,Trend Analysis,Risk,Correlation,Research Methodology,Negative Attitudes,Statistical Data,Tables (Data),Drinking,Smoking,Cocaine,Inhalants,Marijuana,Grade 8,Grade 12,Age Differences

Now in its 35th year, Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a long-term program of research conducted at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research under a series of investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study is comprised of several ongoing series of annual surveys of nationally representative samples of 8th- and 10th-grade students (begun in 1991), 12th-grade students (begun in 1975), and high school graduates into adulthood (begun in 1976). The current monograph reports the results of the repeated cross-sectional surveys since 1976 following graduating high school seniors into their adult years. Several segments of the general adult population are covered in these follow-up surveys: (1) American college students; (2) Their age peers who are not attending college, sometimes called the "forgotten half"; (3) All young adult high school graduates of modal ages 19 to 30, which the authors refer to as the "young adult" sample; and (4) High school graduates at the specific modal ages of 35, 40, 45, and 50. Changes in substance abuse and related attitudes and beliefs within each of these various age strata receive particular emphasis. The authors can summarize the findings on trends as follows: For more than a decade--from the late 1970s to the early 1990s--the use of a number of "illicit" drugs declined appreciably among 12th-grade students, and declined even more among American college students and young adults. In 1992, eighth graders exhibited a significant increase in annual use of "marijuana," "cocaine," "LSD," and "hallucinogens other than LSD," as well as an increase in "inhalant" use. Over the years, MTF has demonstrated that changes in perceived risk and disapproval have been important causes of change in the use of a number of drugs. These beliefs and attitudes are almost certainly influenced by the amount and nature of public attention paid to the drug issue in the historical period during which young people are growing up. Another lesson that derives from the MTF epidemiological data is that social influences that tend to reduce the "initiation" of substance use also have the potential to deter "continuation" by those who have already begun to use, particularly if they are not yet habitual users. The drug problem is not an enemy that can be vanquished. It is more a recurring and relapsing problem that must be contained to the greatest extent possible on an ongoing basis. Therefore, it is a problem that requires an ongoing, dynamic response--one that takes into account the continuing generational replacement of children, the generational forgetting of the dangers of drugs that can occur with that replacement, and the perpetual stream of new abusable substances that will threaten to lure young people into involvement with drugs. An index is included. (Contains 30 tables, 74 figures and 64 footnotes.) [For related reports, see "Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2009. Volume I, Secondary School Students. NIH Publication Number 10-7584" (ED529150) and "Monitoring the Future National Results on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2009. NIH Publication Number 10-7583" (ED529149).]