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Youth Violence and Illicit Drug Use

The NSDUH Report:  Youth Violence and Illicit Drug Use 

Highlights:

  • Violent behaviors among youth was defined in SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health as getting into a serious fight at school or work, participating in a group-against-group fight, or attacking others with the intent of seriously hurting them.
  • Based on SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health, youths aged 12 to 17 who used an illicit drug in the past year were almost twice as likely to have engaged in a violent behavior as those who did not use an illicit drug (49.8% vs. 26.6%).
  • Rates of past year violent behavior were higher among youths aged 13, 14, and 15 than those either younger or older.
  • The likelihood of having engaged in violent behavior increased with the number of drugs used in the past year: 45.6% of youths who used one illicit drug engaged in violent behavior compared to 61.9% of youths who used three or more illicit drugs.

Reports on violence

Reports on youth

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This Short Report, The NSDUH Report:  Youth Violence and Illicit Drug Use , is based on SAMHSA's  National Survey on Drug Use & Health (NSDUH), conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health (NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health also provides estimates for drug use by State.

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This page was last updated on March 17, 2008.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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