What Is the Scope of Inhalant Abuse?

Question: What Is the Scope of Inhalant Abuse?

Answer: Inhalant abuse among the Nation's 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders declined in 1999, continuing an apparent gradual decline that began in 1996, according to the latest MTF data. For example:

• The percentage of high school seniors who abused any inhalants declined to 5.6 percent in 1999 from a peak of 8 percent in 1995. Abuse of nitrites, specifically, also declined to less than 1 percent (0.9) among seniors in 1999.
• Abuse of all inhalants by 10th-graders declined to 7.2 percent in 1999, from 9.6 percent in 1995.
• Among eighth-graders, abuse declined to 10.3 percent in 1999 from 12.8 percent in 1995.

Despite the declines in abuse among schoolchildren in recent years, inhalants are still being abused at higher rates than they were a decade ago, according to the NHSDA. The 1998 survey indicates that the rate of first use among 12- to 17-year-olds rose significantly from 8.4 to 18.8 per 1,000 potential new users from 1989 to 1995 and remained at those levels through 1997. The rate of first use of inhalants for young adults aged 18 to 25 also rose, from 3.7 to 10.7 per 1,000 potential new users between 1989 and 1996, before leveling off in 1997.

MTF's lifetime prevalence figures also indicate that the percentages of students who have tried inhalants remain at high levels. In 1999, 19.7 percent of 8th-graders, 17.0 percent of 10th-graders, and 15. 4 percent of 12th-graders said they had abused inhalants at least once in their lives. These data raise a question: How can fewer 12th-graders than 8th-graders consistently report they have ever abused inhalants?

Possibly, many 12th-graders fail to recall their much earlier use of inhalants or, more troubling, many 8th-grade inhalant abusers may have dropped out of school by the 12th grade and are no longer included in the survey population. The latter explanation is supported by research that shows higher rates of inhalant abuse among children who have poor grades or have dropped out of school than among their classmates who remain in good standing in school.

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