The purpose of this four year study is to understand the factors responsible for the transition from gateway poly-drug use (defined as the use of alcohol/marijuana and one other drug in the past month) to "hard" drug use (defined here as weekly heroin and/or cocaine sniffing, smoking or injection) and associated health risk among multiethnic inner city adolescents and young adults (ages 16-24). The study responds to NIDA PA-97-005: "Research on Adolescent Drug Abuse" calling for studies examining age, gender, ethnic/cultural, developmental and ecological factors influencing drug use trajectories in adolescents, and validity, reliability and normative data on instruments assessing adolescent drug and HIV risk. The 16-24 age cohort demands special attention because both local and national research indicate that the transition from gateway poly-drug use to cocaine and heroin use in any form, as well as exposure to HIV occurs during this period. The study incorporates a longitudinal epidemiologic approach to understanding the natural history of progression to hard drug use with network ethnographicy designed to examine and validate the role of social networks in influencing drug use transitions. Results will be used to frame strategies for preventing hard drug use and HIV transmission, and for advancing the discussion of ethical issues in multi-method drug and AIDS research with mature minors and young adults.

Link to Prototype

Copyright 2000 University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 This is a page at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus.
 Produced and maintained by Oscar Loureiro at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.
 Send comments or questions about this web site to oscar@math.umass.edu
 This page was last modified on October 9, 2003 .
http://www.umass.edu/pathway/index.html