Adolescent Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana Use: the Influence of Neighborhood Disorder and Hope

Purpose: To investigate relationships between adolescents' current alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use; perceptions of neighborhood disorder; and sense of hope.

Design: Questionnaires were administered to a nonrandom sample of middle school students during the spring of 1999.

Subjects: The ethnically and geographically diverse sample (n = 369), from a range of low socioeconomic status backgrounds, was considered to be at high risk for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use because of previous enrollment in low socioeconomic status elementary schools.

Measures: Alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use were dichotomized into current and never/no use. Six variables described neighborhood social disorder. Sense of hope was assessed using the Children's Hope Scale.

Results: Statistically significant relationships were found between perceived neighborhood disorder and current alcohol (p = .01), tobacco (p = .001), and marijuana (p < .001) use. A statistically significant and independent relationship was found between sense of hope and current alcohol (p = .02), tobacco (p = .02), and marijuana (p = .06) use. Results indicated linear trends in participants' increased use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana and (1) perception of higher neighborhood disorder and (2) lower sense of hope.

Conclusion: Substance use prevention programs for youth might usefully be directed not only to adolescents but also to the neighborhoods in which they live. Additionally, it would be important to emphasize creating safer neighborhood environments that support the development of a stronger sense of hope for the future.