Antecedents of narcotic use and addiction. A study of 898 Vietnam veterans

Abstract Previous studies of predictors of narcotic abuse have been retrospective and based on samples of long-term addicts obtained from legal or medical channels. There are several methodological problems in this approach. The present study is an attempt to test certain alleged predictors of narcotic use in a cohort of 898 Vietnam veterans. The design overcomes several of the methodological weaknesses of previous studies. Eight variables which have been reported as predictors of drug use or addiction in the drug literature were inquired about during a personal interview which included the premilitary life of each subject. The antecedent variables were socioeconomic background, inner city residence, psychiatric illness, broken home, race, employment history, education and antisocial history. Using information obtained from interviews and military records, we then tested the predictive value of each of these antecedents by comparing narcotic use and addiction in Vietnam and use after Vietnam in men differing with respect to each antecedent. Results indicate that some of the variables were very poor, and others very good predictors of the various levels of narcotic involvement. The predictive value and overall importance of each of the variables we tested are discussed.