An Assessment of the Influence of Peer Association and Identification on Drug Use among Rural High School Students

Abstract

Data were collected in 1981 from 4,859 junior and senior high school students living in two counties in southern Georgia to examine the relationship of peer group influence and psychosocial identification with the frequency of drug use. Information regarding the type and extent of drug use was collected from the students as well as peer group relationships and psychosocial identification with various groups. These data provided the opportunity to examine the merits of a theoretical perspective developed from selected components of differential association and differential identification theories. The regression analyses revealed that eighteen variables explained 72.2 percent of the variance in soft drug use (4 variables explained 68.4 percent) while nine variables explained 62.6 percent of the variance in hard drug use (4 variables explained 61.4 percent). The findings basically support the theoretical perspective as stated.

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