Teens Who Smoke, Drink Alone at Higher Risk

Solitary use predicts future troubles, study finds.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Thursday, December 7, 2006; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2006 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.

THURSDAY, Dec. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Teens who often engage in unhealthy habits on their own, rather than with peers, may be in bigger trouble, a new study finds.

Researchers at the Rand Corp. found that teens who use alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana when they are alone are less likely to graduate from college, more likely to have substance abuse problems and report poorer physical health by age 23, compared with their peers who only use these substances in groups.

"We found that kids who used these substances while alone were not only at higher risk for problems during adolescences, but 10 years later when they were 23," said study author Joan Tucker, a behavioral scientist at Rand Corp.

"We need to take a closer look at this group of 'solitary users,'" Tucker said. "They are overlooked. When we think about adolescent substance users, we think of those kids who are using substances at parties or when they are hanging out with friends. But we found that there is a significant group that are using these substances by themselves."

Tucker noted that these teens are not loners but are socially active, using alcohol, tobacco or marijuana when they are with friends, but also when they are alone.

Her team's report is published in the December issue of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

In the study, Tucker's team collected data on over 6,500 teenagers from California and Oregon who were in a study to evaluate Project ALERT, a drug-prevention program developed by Rand for middle school children. Teens were asked about their substance use and a variety of other issues several times during middle school and high school, and again at age 23.

The researchers found that of the more than 3,300 people who completed the study, 16 percent of eighth graders had smoked cigarettes while alone, 17 percent drank while alone, and 4 percent had used marijuana while alone.

These solitary users admitted to more delinquent behavior, such as stealing and acting out at school, and were less likely to talk to their parents about personal problems than kids who indulged in bad habits more socially. They were also less involved with school, had lower grades and spent less time on homework and school activities.