The Association of Group Self‐Identification and Adolescent Drug Use in Three Samples Varying in Risk1

This study provides a cross‐sectional analysis of the relations between group self‐identification and adolescent drug use in 3 samples of youth: comprehensive high‐school, continuation high‐school, and runaway/street youth. Youth identified with discrete groups in all 3 samples, and similar general groups were formed. In most comparisons, a high‐risk group showed greater levels of drug use than did other groups. This is the first study to demonstrate that group self‐identification (a) is a generalizable construct across different types of adolescent samples, (b) is related to use of drugs other than tobacco, and (c) remains a significant correlate of drug use controlling for its relations with demographic variables and several other psychosocial variables.