Substance use and multiple victimisation among adolescents in South Africa

Addict Behav. 2006 Jul;31(7):1163-76. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.09.009. Epub 2005 Oct 25.

Abstract

The aims of the study were to examine the relationship between multiple victimisation and drug use, and the role of drug use and other intra-personal, peer, parental and environmental factors in predicting multiple victimisation among adolescents in South Africa. A cross-sectional design was employed. The participants comprised 1474 male and female adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years, from Durban and Cape Town. They completed questionnaire measures assessing demographic characteristics; self, peer and parental drug use; self and peer delinquency; parental child-centredness and rules; and community drug availability and exposure to violence on television. A measure of multiple victimisation assessed whether or not the respondents had experienced two or more different types of violence in their lifetime. There was a significant association between frequency of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use and multiple victimisation. Significant predictors of multiple victimisation in multiple logistic regression analyses were variables within intra-personal, peer, parental and environmental domains. Victimisation prevention programmes in South Africa should be comprehensive and target adolescents' drug use as well as their other psychosocial risk factors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior / psychology
  • Child
  • Crime Victims / psychology
  • Crime Victims / statistics & numerical data*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parent-Child Relations
  • Peer Group
  • Risk Factors
  • Social Environment
  • South Africa / epidemiology
  • Substance-Related Disorders / epidemiology*