Question: What Are the Patterns of Inhalant Abuse?
Answer: Inhalants -- particularly volatile solvents, gases, and aerosols -- are often among the first drugs that young children use. One national survey indicates about 6 percent of U.S. children have tried inhalants by the time they reach fourth grade. Inhalants also are one of the few substances abused more by younger children than by older ones. Nevertheless, inhalant abuse can become chronic and extend into adulthood.
Generally, inhalant abusers will abuse any available substance. However, effects produced by individual inhalants vary, and some individuals will go out of their way to obtain their favorite inhalant. For example, in certain parts of the country, "Texas shoe-shine," a shoe-shining spray containing the chemical toluene, is a local favorite. Silver and gold spray paints, which contain more toluene than other spray colors, also are popular inhalants.
Data from national and State surveys suggest inhalant abuse reaches its peak at some point during the seventh through ninth grades. For example, the American Drug and Alcohol Survey of children in the 4th through 12th grades indicates that the percentage of children who have ever used inhalants peaks in the 8th grade.
In the Monitoring the Future (MTF) study, an annual NIDA-supported survey of the Nation's secondary school students, 8th-graders also regularly report the highest rate of current, past year, and lifetime inhalant abuse; 10th- and 12th-graders report less abuse.
Gender differences in inhalant abuse have been identified at different points in childhood. One study indicates inhalant abuse is higher for boys than girls in grades 4 through 6, occurs at similar rates in grades 7 through 9-when overall use is highest-and becomes more prevalent again among boys in grades 10 through 12.
The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), an annual survey of drug use among the Nation's noninstitutionalized civilians, reports that similar percentages of 12- to 17-year-old boys and girls abused inhalants in 1998. However, the percentage of 18- to 25-year-old males who abused inhalants was more than twice that of females in that age group, suggesting that sustained abuse of inhalants is more common among males.
People who abuse inhalants are found in both urban and rural settings. Research on factors contributing to inhalant abuse suggests that adverse socioeconomic conditions, rather than racial or cultural factors per se, may account for most reported racial and ethnic differences in rates of inhalant abuse.
Poverty, a history of childhood abuse, poor grades, and dropping out of school all are associated with inhalant abuse. Native American youths who live on reservations, where socioeconomic distress and school dropout rates are high, typically have higher rates of inhalant abuse than both the general population of young people and those Native American youths who do not live on reservations.
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