Increased drug use among old-for-grade adolescents
R. S. Byrd, M. Weitzman and A. S. Doniger
Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, NY, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether students older than most other students at
their grade level ("old for grade") are more likely to report engaging in
alcohol, tobacco, and drug-related behaviors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional
analyses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk
Behavior Survey. SETTING: Monroe County, New York. PARTICIPANTS: A total of
1396 high school students from selected classrooms; 68 classrooms randomly
selected within schools with the number of students per school
proportionally selected from the 28 schools in the county. MAIN OUTCOME
MEASURE: Rates of drug-related behaviors by age-for-grade status. RESULTS:
Thirty-six percent of adolescents surveyed were old for grade. Adjusting
for multiple potential confounders, old-for-grade high school students were
more likely to report being regular smokers, chewing tobacco, drinking
alcoholic beverages, driving in a car with someone who had been drinking,
using alcohol or other drugs before last sexual intercourse, using cocaine
in the past month, ever using crack, and using injected or other illicit
drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Old-for-grade status is a potentially important marker
for drug-related behaviors in adolescents. The antecedents of adolescent
risk-taking behavior may begin before the teen years, and prevention of
school failure or interventions targeted toward old-for-grade children
could affect their propensity to experiment with or use drugs during
adolescence.
