Adolescent Judgments of the Personal, Prudential, and Normative Aspects of Drug Usage

Group-administered questionnaires were used to examine the social judgments of 139 9thand 12th-grade students regarding drug usage. Subjects were divided into groups on the basis of self-reported drug use. Low-drug-use and high-drug-use subjects of both grades tended to view drug use as a matter of personal discretion or prudence rather than an issue of morality or social convention. High-drug-use subjects were more likely than low-drug-use subjects to view drug use as a personal rather than prudential issue and to view the behavior as less harmful and less wrong. They were also more likely to view themselves as the only authority with regard to drug use and less likely to view parents or the law as authorities. There were no significant age effects.