| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
Castaldelli-Maia, Joao Mauricio
[1, 2, 3]
;
Martins, Silvia S.
[4]
;
de Oliveira, Lucio Garcia
[1]
;
van Laar, Margriet
[5]
;
de Andrade, Arthur Guerra
[1, 2, 3]
;
Nicastri, Sergio
[1]
Total Authors: 6
|
| Affiliation: | [1] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Med, Inst Psychiat, Interdisciplinary Grp Studies Alcohol & Drugs GRE, BR-05403903 Sao Paulo - Brazil
[2] Fundacao ABC, Sch Med, Discipline Psychiat, BR-09060870 Santo Andre, SP - Brazil
[3] Fundacao ABC, Sch Med, Discipline Med Psychol, BR-09060870 Santo Andre, SP - Brazil
[4] Columbia Univ, Dept Epidemiol, Mailman Sch Publ Hlth, New York, NY 10032 - USA
[5] Netherlands Inst Mental Hlth & Addict, Trimbos Inst, NL-3521 VS Utrecht - Netherlands
Total Affiliations: 5
|
| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology; v. 49, n. 3, p. 385-394, MAR 2014. |
| Web of Science Citations: | 9 |
| Abstract | |
Purpose The aim of the present study was to test whether the first use of an illicit drug increases the chance of first use of other illicit drugs. Method The transitions from the first use of a drug to the first use of another drug were analyzed. Comparisons were made between first drug users and non-users. Survival analysis methods were used to compare the cumulative probability of second drug use after adjusting for socio-demographic covariates and the intermediate use of alcohol and/or tobacco. A total of 12,721 Brazilian university students participated in this study. Results Inhalants and marijuana were used prior to the use of several other drugs, whereas the opposite pattern was not found. Ecstasy was used before other drugs in several instances. Other well-examined drugs, such as amphetamines, cocaine and hallucinogens, were used both before and after other illicit drugs without any marked predominance for either of the two roles. Conclusions This study supports the role of the use of marijuana and inhalants almost exclusively before the use of other illicit drugs, whereas the use of ecstasy has an opposite role. These roles could be linked to the prevalence of lifetime use and whether individuals were at an earlier or later age during experimentation. (AU) | |