ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to monitor drug-taking behavior among adolescents, specifically estimating prevalence and identifying trends. Ethnographic studies can help to begin to provide critical information about how cultural attitudes, values, and behaviors interact concerning drug-taking behavior within different ethnic groups. An examination of the relationship between ethnicity and drug-taking behavior among the total sample shows that more Whites reported trying a drug or alcohol than any other ethnic group. While the behavioral and social norms regarding the use of a given drug may closely resemble each other in different ethnic groups, each cultural group may nevertheless ascribe different meanings, values and attitudes to drug use. Prevention efforts have to focus on changing those factors in the environment that contribute to and reinforce drug-taking behavior, instead of only concentrating on trying to change attitudes about using drugs. J. D. Newcomb and P. M. Bentler have noted that drug-taking behavior within their study group evolved into the lifestyle of teenagers.
