Inhalant abuse is a public health problem that disproportionately affects young people. This page provides graphic representation of recent trends in use, attitudes about inhalants among U.S. schoolchildren, and current levels of inhalant use in the United States, distributed by gender, ethnicity, and age. The source of the data is NIDA's annual Monitoring the Future survey of adolescents in grades 8, 10, and 12.

Current trends are positive in two respects. Increasingly, young people surveyed see "great risk" in trying inhalants. At the same time, the percentage reporting inhalant abuse is declining.

Although the percentages of U.S. male and female students reporting past-year use of inhalants are virtually identical among 8th- to 12th-graders, use by males is more likely among older youths. Inhalant use is reported by a greater percentage of whites and Hispanics than by Blacks.

Percentage of Students Reporting Past-Year Use of Inhalants, by Grade Percentage of 8th- and 10th-Graders Seeing "Great Risk" in Trying Inhalants Once or Twice A consistent pattern shows higher rates of inhalant use in earlier grades, with levels of use in all three grades peaking in 1995 and declining from 1996 through 2001. The decline in inhalant use that began in 1996 may be linked to an increase in perception of inhalant risk, a trend that began in 1995-1996. From 1991 to 1993 roughly 40 percent of 8th- and 10th-graders perceived any experimentation with inhalants to be very risky. Between 1995 and 2001, significant increases in perceived risk were reported by both groups.

U.S. Male and Female Students Who Reported Past-Year Use of Inhalants, 2001 U.S. Students Who Reported Past-Year Use of Inhalants, 2001, by Race/Ethnicity A slightly higher percentage of 8th-grade girls than boys reported inhalant use. Among 12th-graders, a greater percentage of boys report past-year use of inhalants. Higher rates of past-year inhalant use were found among whites and Hispanics, lower rates among Blacks.

Volume 17, Number 4 (November 2002)