Psychologicrrl Reports, 1977,41, 1095-1102. @ Psychological Reports 1977
PEER, FAMILY, A N D PERSONALITY DOMAINS AS RELATED T O ADOLESCENTS' DRUG BEHAVIOR1 JUDITH S. BROOK, IRVING F. LUKOFF, AND MARTIN WHITEMAN School of S o c d Work, Columbia University Summary.-Three models (interdependent, mediational, and independent) for examining the interrelations of personality and interpersonal (peer and family) factors and their effect on adolescents' drug behavior are identified. 403 adolescents participated in the study. Results show support for the independent model; each of the three domains (personality, peer, and family) had an impact on adolescents' drug behavior independent of the latter's relation with the remaining rwo domains. Some theoretical, methodological, and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of personal and interpersonal relations to adolescents' drug behavior. Some contemporary explanations of adolescent behavior focus on peer influences and have portrayed youth as a subgroup having only "threads of connection with adult society" (Coleman, 1961; Friedenberg, 1963; Mead, 1970; Suchman, 1968). Others (Brittain, 1963; Clausen, 1966; Larsen, 1974) have provided evidence that the family has a most significant influence on adolescents' behavior. A third group of studies has documented the importance of personality factors as they relate to adolescents' behavior (Blos, 1967; Freud, 1958). With a few important exceptions (Jessor, Jessor, & Finney, 1963; Kandel, Kessler, & Margulies, 1976) studies of the interconnection of peer, family, and personality domains have been neglected. Studies of this nature are of importance for a theoretically integrative approach to the understanding of adolescents' behavior. The present scudy was, therefore, designed to examine these interrelations among family, peer, and personality domains as they relate to adolescents' behavior, more specifically adolescents' marijuana use. In the present study three separate models (interdependent, mediational, and independent) are suggested for examining the relations among personality, peer, and family factors and their effect on adolescents' drug use. In the case of the interdependent model, each of the domains (personality, peer, and family) would be significantly related to drug use. However, the significant relation between each domain and adolescents' drug use would vanish with control on the remaining two domains (more precisely the variables within T h e three authors' contributions to this report were equal, and the order of naming is alphabetical. This study was supported by grants from the Center for Socio-Cultural Research on Drug Use j5P01 DA01097) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5RI DA01103), to Irvlng F. Lukoff, Principal Investigator. Additional support came from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Grant Nos. NI-71-046-G and NI72-008-G. This support does not necessarily indicate concurrence with the statements and conclusions of this paper. The authors thank AM S. Gordon for her .invaluable assistance at all stages of the research.
1096
J. S. BROOK,
AL.
each of the domains). If an interdependent model were operative the personality, peer, and family factors would have to exist simultaneously for adolescents' drug behavior to occur. In the case of the mediational model one of the domains would have to be prepotent to the others such that it mediates the relations of each of the remaining domains and drug use. Thus, hypothetically, if personality is the mediator, the relationship between personality and drugs would remain significant despite control on peer and family variables. However, neither the peer nor the family domains would remain significant once the personality variables were partialled out. In the case of the independent model peer, family, and personality factors each would have a significant relationship to adolescents' drug use despite control on variables in the remaining two domains. In order to test the t h e e models adequately, we included personality, family, and peer factors that have previously been found to be related to adolescents' drug use. As to personality variables, a number of studies have found that marijuana users exhibit less conformity than nonusers (Hogan, Mankin, Conway, & Fox, 1970; Jessor, et al., 1973). Several studies have also shown that belief in internal versus external control is positively related to excessive alcohol and opiate use (Berzins & Ross, 1973; Goss & Morosko, 1970). Intolerance of deviance has also been found to insulate the adolescent from drug use ( Jessor, et d.,1973). AS for the family and peer factors that have been found to be related to adolescents' drug use, one of the most important familial variables is parental drug use (Annis, 1974; Scherer, 1973; Smart & Fejer, 1972). Related to this, Lavenhar, Wolfson, Sheffet, Einstein, and Lwria ( 1972 ) found that adolescent marijuana users more often than nonusers reported that their siblings had used illicit drugs. Finally, the role peer-group processes have on induction into drug use and on the acquisition of appropriate behaviors related to the use of drugs has been well documented (Kandel, 1973; Suchman, 1968).2 The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the relative importance of these theoretically and empirically significant domains of influence on adolescent drug behavior.
METHOD The sample comprised 138 (77 male, 61 female) British West Indian black, 141 (65 male, 76 female) American black, and 124 (60 male, 64 female) white adolescents. W e have distinguished American blacks from the blacks who derive from the British West Indies because differences have previously been noted between the cwo groups in family structure, occupational and educational mobility, and reported social-class standing (Lowenthal, 1972).
7. Brook, I. F. Lukoff, M. Whiteman, & A . Gordon, Teenage drug use
in an urban ghetto: preliminary findings. (Unpublished report, Center for Socio-Cul~ralStudies on Drug Use, Columbia Univer. School of Social Work, 1975)
PEER, FAMILY, PERSONALITY AND DRUG BEHAVIOR
1097
It was of interest to explore whether the relationship between drug use and the various personality, peer, and family dimensions varied between the two different black groups as well as between the black m d white samples. The adolescents were sampled from contiguous census tracts in Brooklyn, New York; one area was predominantly white, one predominantly black, and one had a number of West Indians. Since the adolescents were drawn from one community, extrapolation to the population must be made with caution. Houses and blocks were randomly selected within these areas. The mothers of the adolescents were then screened "in their homes to determine ( a ) ethnicity, ( b ) social class, and ( c ) the presence of at least one child between the ages of 13 and 17 yr. Thus only adolescents living with their mothers or mother surrogates were included in the study. This sampling design was used in order to ensure approximately equal numbers of black, white, and West Indian adolescents comparable in terms of socioeconomic background. The class disnibutions3 were approximately equivalent for the three ethnic groups ( x z 2 = 3.42). A series of questions was developed which could be used in a face-to-face interviewing situation. A preliminary study of 50 adolescents was conducted prior to deciding on the final interview schedule. Some of the questions elicited factual and background information, but most of the items were grouped into scales designed to tap the three domains, personality, peer, and family. Final selection of the items within each scale was based on their intercorrelations and reliabilities. The scales within the personality domain are listed. Marlowe-Crowne.-Several items were selected from the Marlowe and Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964). The scale was developed to locate individuals who describe themselves in socially acceptable ways. (5-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .55) Internal us External.-This scale (adapted from Rotter, 1966) measured the extent to which the subjects perceived their futures as depending upon their own acts as opposed to chance factors. ( P i t e m scale; Cronbach alpha = .67) Attitude T o w ~ dDevMnce.--This scale (adapted from Jessor, Graves, Hanson, & Jessor, 1968) was designed to measure the adolescent's feelings about deviant behavior. The subject was asked to rate how wrong several deviant acts were. ( 10-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .85 ) The scales within the peer domain are four: Friend Expectation.-This scale (adapted from Jessor, et al., 1968) was designed to measure the subjects' expectations of having their needs satisfied by their friends. (3-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .63) Closeness to Peers4.-This was a measure of the subjects' perceptions of 'A full description of the social class scheme appears in Brook, Lultoff, and Whiteman
(1977). 'Copies of these scales may be obtained from Dr. Judith Brook, Columbia University School of Social Work, 622 West 113th Street, New York, New York 10025.
1098
J. S. BROOK, ET AL.
their relationships to peers and the extent to which peers influence them. (3-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .28)5 Parents us Peers4.-This scale measured the subjects' perceptions of their orientation to parents relative to peers. (3-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .34) Peer h a g me.--The adolescents were asked if they had any friends who ever used heroin, marijuana, cocaine, LSD, other psychedelics or glue. The subjects were classified into two categories-no peer drug use vs any peer drug use. The scales within the f m i l y domain are: Involvement in deviance by relatives: a scale designed to measure the subject's perception of involvement in deviant behavior (fighting or stealing) by family members (2-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .50) and Family drug use. The adolescents were asked if any of their parents or siblings ever used heroin, marijuana, cocaine, LSD, or other psychedelics. Subjects were placed into two categories-none vs any family drug use. Most of the family drug use was by siblings. Finally, as the dependent variable, subjects were asked about their own use of illicit drugs. The adolescents were classified into three categories, no drug use, marijuana only, or marijuana plus other illicit drugs or other drugs alone. Due to the legal climate of the time (the Rockefeller drug law had just been passed) it was not considered advisable to probe for extent of drug use. Our extrapolations based upon follow-up studies of this group indicate that approximately 85 % of the adolescent drug users were experimenters, rather than heavy users, at the time they were interviewed. These results are in accord with other findings (Josephson, 1974; National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, 1973) which indicate that the great majority of students at the high school level were experimenters. The National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago conducted the interviews and paid each respondent $5.00 for participating in the study. This probably ,explains the fact that 98% of the subjects contacted agreed to participate. All of the subjects were seen individually for approximately 1 hr. by the interviewer in the privacy of their homes and were assured that their answers were confidential. The interviewer read the questions orally and the teen-agers were instructed to circle the appropriate answer on their booklets to ensure privacy. RESULTS Nineteen percent of the adolescents reported having used marijuana with or without other illicit drugs. The overwhelming majority of users reported only marijuana use. Drug users were compared with nonusers on a number of background variables (age, sex, and ethnicity). Based on analyses, sex
x2
These scales were included despite their low reliability because of their significant zeroorder correlation with adolescent drug use and because of their theoretical significance.
PEER, FAMILY, PERSONALIlY AND DRUG BEHAVIOR .
1099
(xI2
and ethnicity were not related to adolescents' drug use = 1.88; x~~ = 2.65, respectively). With respect to age 10% of the 13- to 15-yr.-olds reported drug use whereas 30% of the 16- to 17-yr.-olds reported drug use (XI' = 26.01, 9 < .001). These results closely parallel those reported by the Drug Abuse Council ( 1974). The analyses presented below are based only on those personality, peer, and family scales which emerged as main effects in two-way analyses of variance (ethnicity by drug, sex by drug, or age by drug). TABLE 1
CORRBLATTONS OF PERSONALITY, PEBR,AND FAMILY VARIABLBS WITH ADOLESCBNTS' DRUG USB Measure
7
P
A.
Personality domain Marlowe-Crowne Internal-External Attitude Toward Deviance B. Peer domain Parent vs Peer Friend Expectation Closeness to Peers Peer Drug Use C. Family domain Involvemenr in Deviance by Relatives .16 c.001 Family Drug Use
PEER, FAMILY, A N D PERSONALITY DOMAINS AS RELATED T O ADOLESCENTS' DRUG BEHAVIOR1 JUDITH S. BROOK, IRVING F. LUKOFF, AND MARTIN WHITEMAN School of S o c d Work, Columbia University Summary.-Three models (interdependent, mediational, and independent) for examining the interrelations of personality and interpersonal (peer and family) factors and their effect on adolescents' drug behavior are identified. 403 adolescents participated in the study. Results show support for the independent model; each of the three domains (personality, peer, and family) had an impact on adolescents' drug behavior independent of the latter's relation with the remaining rwo domains. Some theoretical, methodological, and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of personal and interpersonal relations to adolescents' drug behavior. Some contemporary explanations of adolescent behavior focus on peer influences and have portrayed youth as a subgroup having only "threads of connection with adult society" (Coleman, 1961; Friedenberg, 1963; Mead, 1970; Suchman, 1968). Others (Brittain, 1963; Clausen, 1966; Larsen, 1974) have provided evidence that the family has a most significant influence on adolescents' behavior. A third group of studies has documented the importance of personality factors as they relate to adolescents' behavior (Blos, 1967; Freud, 1958). With a few important exceptions (Jessor, Jessor, & Finney, 1963; Kandel, Kessler, & Margulies, 1976) studies of the interconnection of peer, family, and personality domains have been neglected. Studies of this nature are of importance for a theoretically integrative approach to the understanding of adolescents' behavior. The present scudy was, therefore, designed to examine these interrelations among family, peer, and personality domains as they relate to adolescents' behavior, more specifically adolescents' marijuana use. In the present study three separate models (interdependent, mediational, and independent) are suggested for examining the relations among personality, peer, and family factors and their effect on adolescents' drug use. In the case of the interdependent model, each of the domains (personality, peer, and family) would be significantly related to drug use. However, the significant relation between each domain and adolescents' drug use would vanish with control on the remaining two domains (more precisely the variables within T h e three authors' contributions to this report were equal, and the order of naming is alphabetical. This study was supported by grants from the Center for Socio-Cultural Research on Drug Use j5P01 DA01097) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5RI DA01103), to Irvlng F. Lukoff, Principal Investigator. Additional support came from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Grant Nos. NI-71-046-G and NI72-008-G. This support does not necessarily indicate concurrence with the statements and conclusions of this paper. The authors thank AM S. Gordon for her .invaluable assistance at all stages of the research.
1096
J. S. BROOK,
AL.
each of the domains). If an interdependent model were operative the personality, peer, and family factors would have to exist simultaneously for adolescents' drug behavior to occur. In the case of the mediational model one of the domains would have to be prepotent to the others such that it mediates the relations of each of the remaining domains and drug use. Thus, hypothetically, if personality is the mediator, the relationship between personality and drugs would remain significant despite control on peer and family variables. However, neither the peer nor the family domains would remain significant once the personality variables were partialled out. In the case of the independent model peer, family, and personality factors each would have a significant relationship to adolescents' drug use despite control on variables in the remaining two domains. In order to test the t h e e models adequately, we included personality, family, and peer factors that have previously been found to be related to adolescents' drug use. As to personality variables, a number of studies have found that marijuana users exhibit less conformity than nonusers (Hogan, Mankin, Conway, & Fox, 1970; Jessor, et al., 1973). Several studies have also shown that belief in internal versus external control is positively related to excessive alcohol and opiate use (Berzins & Ross, 1973; Goss & Morosko, 1970). Intolerance of deviance has also been found to insulate the adolescent from drug use ( Jessor, et d.,1973). AS for the family and peer factors that have been found to be related to adolescents' drug use, one of the most important familial variables is parental drug use (Annis, 1974; Scherer, 1973; Smart & Fejer, 1972). Related to this, Lavenhar, Wolfson, Sheffet, Einstein, and Lwria ( 1972 ) found that adolescent marijuana users more often than nonusers reported that their siblings had used illicit drugs. Finally, the role peer-group processes have on induction into drug use and on the acquisition of appropriate behaviors related to the use of drugs has been well documented (Kandel, 1973; Suchman, 1968).2 The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the relative importance of these theoretically and empirically significant domains of influence on adolescent drug behavior.
METHOD The sample comprised 138 (77 male, 61 female) British West Indian black, 141 (65 male, 76 female) American black, and 124 (60 male, 64 female) white adolescents. W e have distinguished American blacks from the blacks who derive from the British West Indies because differences have previously been noted between the cwo groups in family structure, occupational and educational mobility, and reported social-class standing (Lowenthal, 1972).
7. Brook, I. F. Lukoff, M. Whiteman, & A . Gordon, Teenage drug use
in an urban ghetto: preliminary findings. (Unpublished report, Center for Socio-Cul~ralStudies on Drug Use, Columbia Univer. School of Social Work, 1975)
PEER, FAMILY, PERSONALITY AND DRUG BEHAVIOR
1097
It was of interest to explore whether the relationship between drug use and the various personality, peer, and family dimensions varied between the two different black groups as well as between the black m d white samples. The adolescents were sampled from contiguous census tracts in Brooklyn, New York; one area was predominantly white, one predominantly black, and one had a number of West Indians. Since the adolescents were drawn from one community, extrapolation to the population must be made with caution. Houses and blocks were randomly selected within these areas. The mothers of the adolescents were then screened "in their homes to determine ( a ) ethnicity, ( b ) social class, and ( c ) the presence of at least one child between the ages of 13 and 17 yr. Thus only adolescents living with their mothers or mother surrogates were included in the study. This sampling design was used in order to ensure approximately equal numbers of black, white, and West Indian adolescents comparable in terms of socioeconomic background. The class disnibutions3 were approximately equivalent for the three ethnic groups ( x z 2 = 3.42). A series of questions was developed which could be used in a face-to-face interviewing situation. A preliminary study of 50 adolescents was conducted prior to deciding on the final interview schedule. Some of the questions elicited factual and background information, but most of the items were grouped into scales designed to tap the three domains, personality, peer, and family. Final selection of the items within each scale was based on their intercorrelations and reliabilities. The scales within the personality domain are listed. Marlowe-Crowne.-Several items were selected from the Marlowe and Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1964). The scale was developed to locate individuals who describe themselves in socially acceptable ways. (5-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .55) Internal us External.-This scale (adapted from Rotter, 1966) measured the extent to which the subjects perceived their futures as depending upon their own acts as opposed to chance factors. ( P i t e m scale; Cronbach alpha = .67) Attitude T o w ~ dDevMnce.--This scale (adapted from Jessor, Graves, Hanson, & Jessor, 1968) was designed to measure the adolescent's feelings about deviant behavior. The subject was asked to rate how wrong several deviant acts were. ( 10-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .85 ) The scales within the peer domain are four: Friend Expectation.-This scale (adapted from Jessor, et al., 1968) was designed to measure the subjects' expectations of having their needs satisfied by their friends. (3-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .63) Closeness to Peers4.-This was a measure of the subjects' perceptions of 'A full description of the social class scheme appears in Brook, Lultoff, and Whiteman
(1977). 'Copies of these scales may be obtained from Dr. Judith Brook, Columbia University School of Social Work, 622 West 113th Street, New York, New York 10025.
1098
J. S. BROOK, ET AL.
their relationships to peers and the extent to which peers influence them. (3-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .28)5 Parents us Peers4.-This scale measured the subjects' perceptions of their orientation to parents relative to peers. (3-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .34) Peer h a g me.--The adolescents were asked if they had any friends who ever used heroin, marijuana, cocaine, LSD, other psychedelics or glue. The subjects were classified into two categories-no peer drug use vs any peer drug use. The scales within the f m i l y domain are: Involvement in deviance by relatives: a scale designed to measure the subject's perception of involvement in deviant behavior (fighting or stealing) by family members (2-item scale; Cronbach alpha = .50) and Family drug use. The adolescents were asked if any of their parents or siblings ever used heroin, marijuana, cocaine, LSD, or other psychedelics. Subjects were placed into two categories-none vs any family drug use. Most of the family drug use was by siblings. Finally, as the dependent variable, subjects were asked about their own use of illicit drugs. The adolescents were classified into three categories, no drug use, marijuana only, or marijuana plus other illicit drugs or other drugs alone. Due to the legal climate of the time (the Rockefeller drug law had just been passed) it was not considered advisable to probe for extent of drug use. Our extrapolations based upon follow-up studies of this group indicate that approximately 85 % of the adolescent drug users were experimenters, rather than heavy users, at the time they were interviewed. These results are in accord with other findings (Josephson, 1974; National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, 1973) which indicate that the great majority of students at the high school level were experimenters. The National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago conducted the interviews and paid each respondent $5.00 for participating in the study. This probably ,explains the fact that 98% of the subjects contacted agreed to participate. All of the subjects were seen individually for approximately 1 hr. by the interviewer in the privacy of their homes and were assured that their answers were confidential. The interviewer read the questions orally and the teen-agers were instructed to circle the appropriate answer on their booklets to ensure privacy. RESULTS Nineteen percent of the adolescents reported having used marijuana with or without other illicit drugs. The overwhelming majority of users reported only marijuana use. Drug users were compared with nonusers on a number of background variables (age, sex, and ethnicity). Based on analyses, sex
x2
These scales were included despite their low reliability because of their significant zeroorder correlation with adolescent drug use and because of their theoretical significance.
PEER, FAMILY, PERSONALIlY AND DRUG BEHAVIOR .
1099
(xI2
and ethnicity were not related to adolescents' drug use = 1.88; x~~ = 2.65, respectively). With respect to age 10% of the 13- to 15-yr.-olds reported drug use whereas 30% of the 16- to 17-yr.-olds reported drug use (XI' = 26.01, 9 < .001). These results closely parallel those reported by the Drug Abuse Council ( 1974). The analyses presented below are based only on those personality, peer, and family scales which emerged as main effects in two-way analyses of variance (ethnicity by drug, sex by drug, or age by drug). TABLE 1
CORRBLATTONS OF PERSONALITY, PEBR,AND FAMILY VARIABLBS WITH ADOLESCBNTS' DRUG USB Measure
7
P
A.
Personality domain Marlowe-Crowne Internal-External Attitude Toward Deviance B. Peer domain Parent vs Peer Friend Expectation Closeness to Peers Peer Drug Use C. Family domain Involvemenr in Deviance by Relatives .16 c.001 Family Drug Use
