Search Results

Author: Mensch, Barbara S.
Resulting in 6 citations.
1. Mensch, Barbara S.
Kandel, Denise B.
Do Job Conditions Influence the Use of Drugs?
Journal of Health and Social Behavior 29,2 (June 1988): 169-184.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2137056
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Drug Use; Job Satisfaction; Occupations; Self-Reporting; Working Conditions

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The relationship between job conditions and use of four classes of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and cocaine, are investigated using data from the NLSY, a nationally representative survey of the labor force experience of young adults aged 19-27 in 1984. Indirect measures of job characteristics, based on Census-based classifications developed by Karasek, et al.,1987 and the DOT (Miller et al., 1980) were supplemented by limited self-reported measures. No clear epidemiological patterns emerge regarding the distribution of drug use either in general or on the job across occupations and industries. Similarly, specific job dimensions, whether assessed from job titles or from the respondents themselves, showed very low correlations with recency/frequency measures of drug use. Individual factors indexing lack of commitment to social institutions, such as having dropped out of school, participation in delinquent activities and not being married are much stronger predictors of drug use than specific job conditions. This study concludes that substance use by workers is not due as much to conditions of the work place as to attributes of the work force.
Bibliography Citation
Mensch, Barbara S. and Denise B. Kandel. "Do Job Conditions Influence the Use of Drugs?" Journal of Health and Social Behavior 29,2 (June 1988): 169-184.
2. Mensch, Barbara S.
Kandel, Denise B.
Dropping Out of High School and Drug Involvement
Sociology of Education 61,2 (April 1988): 95-113.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2112267
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Sociological Association
Keyword(s): Drug Use; Event History; GED/General Educational Diploma/General Equivalency Degree/General Educational Development

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The relationship between dropping out of high school and substance use is explored using the NLSY, a national longitudinal sample of young Americans aged 19-27 in 1984. Cross-sectional data indicate that high school dropouts are more involved with cigarettes and illicit drugs than graduates, and those who go on to obtain a GED are the most intensely involved. Event history analysis indicates that, controlling for other important risk factors, prior use of cigarettes, marijuana and other illicit drugs increases the propensity of dropping out and that the earlier the initiation into drugs, the greater the probability of premature school leaving. Preventing or at least delaying initiation of drug use will reduce the incidence of dropping out in our nation's high schools.
Bibliography Citation
Mensch, Barbara S. and Denise B. Kandel. "Dropping Out of High School and Drug Involvement." Sociology of Education 61,2 (April 1988): 95-113.
3. Mensch, Barbara S.
Kandel, Denise B.
Drug Use as a Risk Factor for Premarital Teen Pregnancy and Abortion in a National Sample of Young White Women
Working Paper, New York: School of Public Health, Columbia University, January 1992
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Keyword(s): Abortion; Adolescent Fertility; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Deviance; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Religion; Self-Esteem; Sexual Activity; Substance Use; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Bibliography Citation
Mensch, Barbara S. and Denise B. Kandel. "Drug Use as a Risk Factor for Premarital Teen Pregnancy and Abortion in a National Sample of Young White Women." Working Paper, New York: School of Public Health, Columbia University, January 1992.
4. Mensch, Barbara S.
Kandel, Denise B.
Drug Use as a Risk Factor for Premarital Teen Pregnancy and Abortion in a National Sample of Young White Women
Demography 29,3 (August 1992): 409-429.
Also: http://www.springerlink.com/content/2166r53270u1987u/
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Abortion; Adolescent Fertility; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Contraception; Deviance; Drug Use; Event History; Pre-natal Care/Exposure; Pre/post Natal Behavior; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Pregnancy, Adolescent; Religion; Self-Esteem; Sexual Activity; Substance Use; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The relationship between adolescent drug use and premarital teen pregnancy and abortion as a pregnancy outcome among sexually active women is investigated in a sample of white women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Event history analysis is used to explore whether prior drug use has a unique effect on premarital teen pregnancy. with controls for personality, lifestyle, and biological factors. Logistic regression is used to estimate whether drug use affects the decision to terminate a premarital teen pregnancy. The results show that the risk of premarital teen pregnancy is nearly four times as high for those who have used illicit drugs other than marijuana as for those with no history of any prior substance involvement. Furthermore, illicit drug use increases the likelihood of an abortion by a factor of 5. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Bibliography Citation
Mensch, Barbara S. and Denise B. Kandel. "Drug Use as a Risk Factor for Premarital Teen Pregnancy and Abortion in a National Sample of Young White Women." Demography 29,3 (August 1992): 409-429.
5. Mensch, Barbara S.
Kandel, Denise B.
Underreporting of Substance Use in a National Longitudinal Youth Cohort: Individual and Interviewer Effects
Public Opinion Quarterly 52,1 (Spring 1988): 100-124.
Also: http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/52/1/100.abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Data Quality/Consistency; Drug Use; Longitudinal Surveys; Self-Reporting; Substance Use; Underreporting

The quality of drug data in the 1984 wave of the NLSY is explored. Comparisons with other national surveys indicate that underreporting of use of illicit drugs other than marijuana appears to have taken place, and that light users of these drugs are under-represented among the self-acknowledged users. Comparison with marijuana use reported four years earlier indicates that experimental marijuana users are much less likely than extensive users to acknowledge involvement. Even after controlling for frequency of use, underreporting is more common among terminal high school dropouts and minorities. Not only individual characteristics but field conditions also contribute to underreporting. Familiarity with the interviewer, as measured by number of prior interviewing contacts, depresses drug use reporting. The authors speculate that interviewer familiarity increases salience of normative standards and that participants respond not only in terms of their past familiarity but also their subjective expectations regarding the probability of a future encounter with the interviewer.
Bibliography Citation
Mensch, Barbara S. and Denise B. Kandel. "Underreporting of Substance Use in a National Longitudinal Youth Cohort: Individual and Interviewer Effects." Public Opinion Quarterly 52,1 (Spring 1988): 100-124.
6. Mensch, Barbara S.
Rosenbaum, Emily
Kandel, Denise B.
Drug Use as a Risk Factor for Premarital Pregnancy in a National Sample of Young Women
Presented: Toronto, Canada, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1990
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Abortion; Adolescent Fertility; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Contraception; Deviance; Drug Use; Hispanics; Pregnancy and Pregnancy Outcomes; Racial Differences; Religion; Self-Esteem; Self-Reporting; Sexual Activity; Teenagers

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study explores the relationship between adolescent drug use and premarital teen pregnancy with data from the 1979-1985 waves of the NLSY. Event history analysis is used to specify the effect of prior drug use on premarital teen pregnancy with controls for seemingly shared personality, lifestyle, and biological factors. Among white young women illicit drug use is the second most important predictor. The risk of premarital teen pregnancy is nearly four times higher for those who have used illicit drugs other than marijuana compared to those with no history of any prior substance involvement. Illicit drug use has no effect on premarital pregnancy for blacks and Hispanics. Alternative explanations may account for the ethnic differences. One possibility is that premarital pregnancy is more normative for nonwhites and therefore less likely to be determined by prior deviant activities. Another possibility is that greater unreliability of self-reports by blacks and Hispanics may alter the observed effects.
Bibliography Citation
Mensch, Barbara S., Emily Rosenbaum and Denise B. Kandel. "Drug Use as a Risk Factor for Premarital Pregnancy in a National Sample of Young Women." Presented: Toronto, Canada, Population Association of America Meetings, May 1990.