DRUG USE AND LIFE STYLE AMONG COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATES: A 30-YEAR
LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Objective:
The authors examined trends in the prevalence of substance use and its
relationship to attributes of life style among college students over a
30-year period.

Method:
They distributed anonymous questionnaires to 796 seniors at a large New
England college in 1999, using methods essentially identical to those of
their previous studies at the same college in 1969, 1978, and 1989.

Results:
Most forms of drug use rose to a peak in 1978 then fell over the next 21
years, except for use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ("ecstasy"). On
several variables, college substance users differed more sharply from
nonusers in 1999 than in previous decades.

Conclusions:
Although the study was limited to students at a single institution, its
findings suggest that college drug use is generally declining and that
users have increasingly diverged from nonusers in their values and life style.