As part of the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), youths aged 12 to 17 were asked to indicate how much they agreed or disagreed with statements about their neighborhood. Response choices were: (1) strongly agree; (2) somewhat agree; (3) somewhat disagree; and (4) strongly disagree. Statements about their neighborhood addressed crime and violence (drug selling, crime, and street fights), as well as the physical environment (i.e., empty or abandoned buildings, graffiti). The survey data permit examinations of the links between these perceptions of neighborhood characteristics and marijuana use among youths.
Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristic
According to the 2000 NHSDA, more than one in five youths aged 12 to 17 (an estimated 5 million) reported that they strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that there is a lot of crime in their neighborhoods (Figure 1). More than one in four youths (an estimated 6 million) agreed with the statement that there is a lot of drug selling in their neighborhoods, and more than one in seven youths (over 3 million) believed that there are a lot of street fights in their neighborhoods. More than one in nine youths (almost 3 million) agreed with the statement that there are a lot of empty or abandoned buildings in their neighborhoods, and more than one in seven youths (almost 4 million) perceived that there is a lot of graffiti in their neighborhoods.
Among youths, blacks more often agreed with the statements that their neighborhoods have a lot of crime, drug selling, street fights, and abandoned buildings than did black, Asian, or white youths (Figure 2). Hispanics agreed with these statements less often than blacks, but more often than whites or Asians. Furthermore, Hispanics more often perceived that there is a lot of graffiti in their neighborhoods than did black, Asian, or white youths.
Youths who lived in large metropolitan counties were more likely to perceive that their neighborhoods contain a lot of crime, drug selling, street fights, and graffiti compared with youths who lived in small metropolitan or non-metropolitan areas (Figure 3). Youths who lived in non-metropolitan areas were more likely to perceive that their neighborhoods contain a lot of abandoned buildings compared with youths who lived in small or large metropolitan areas.
Figure 1. Percentages of Youths Aged 12 to 17 Reporting Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristics: 2000 Figure 2. Percentages of Youths Aged 12 to 17 Reporting Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristics, by Racial/Ethnic Group: 2000
