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ABSTRACT: Data from a statewide survey, conducted by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center, of 20,629 Indiana students in grades 5–12 were analyzed to determine the extent to which cigarette smoking predicted use of alcohol and other drugs and acted as a so‐called “gateway drug.” A three‐stage purposive/quota cluster sampling strategy yielded a representative sample of Indiana students, stratified by grade. Cross‐tabulated data revealed a strong, dose‐dependent relationship between smoking behavior and binge drinking, as well as use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Daily pack‐a‐day smokers were three times more likely to drink alcohol, seven times more likely to use smokeless tobacco, and 10–30 times more likely to use illicit drugs than nonsmokers. A stepwise multiple regression analyzed the role that the student's perceptions of the risk of using drugs and of peer approval/disapproval of the student's drug use, gender, grade in school, and ethnic background played in predicting alcohol and other drug use.
Torabi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.