Cocaine use among adolescents: longitudinal associations with social context, psychopathology, and use of other substances.

Cocaine use has become a significant personal and social problem among all segments of American society. This study uses longitudinal data obtained over a 5-year period from a sample of 847 adolescents to examine numerous antecedents, consequences, and concomitants of cocaine use. Over the 5-year period, significant increases in actual use and social context of use were evident, with 15% of the 17-19 year-olds reporting they had been "super high or stoned" on cocaine at least once. Path analytic models were used to examine the impact of intentions and social context variables (e.g., peer use) on self-use over time, as well as to study the effects of earlier use of alcohol and cannabis on subsequent use of cocaine. Self-reported use of cocaine was highly predictive of use of many other drug substances. Intent to use cocaine is associated with several personality traits. With one exception, measures of psychopathology were not predictive of, nor influenced by, cocaine use over a 1-year period. However, depression did lead to increased cocaine use over this period of time. Finally, income from salaries and gifts was predictive of current cocaine use to a small but significant degree.