Family Facts: Social Science Research on Family, Society & Religion

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This finding looks at the relationship between family structure and cocaine use.

Compared to peers from intact families, individuals whose parents divorced while growing up and had at least weekly contact with their nonresident parents the year following the divorce were 58 percent more likely to have used cocaine in the year prior the survey; and individuals whose parents divorced and had at least monthly contact with their nonresident parents in the year following the divorce were 63 percent more likely to have used cocaine in the year prior to the survey. This was true taking into account respondents’ race/ethnicity, gender, age, childhood religious affiliation, educational expectation at age 18, maternal educational attainment, alcoholism in the family, whether or not respondents were born in the U.S, and whether or not a family member had a library card growing up.

Sample or Data Description
Data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort (NLSY79), using data from 1979, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994 and 1998. The analytical sample consisted of 8,294 respondents who were interviewed at least once between 1984 and 1998. The NLSY79 is a nationally representative sample of individuals aged 14 to 21 in as of January 1, 1979.

Source
"Childhood Family, Ethnicity, and Drug Use over the Life Course"
Cubbins, Lisa A.
Klepinger, Daniel H.
Journal of Family and Marriage Vol. 69, Number 3. August, 2007. Page(s) 810-830.

FindingID: 8975