Epidemiology of Inhalant Abuse - Archives - National Institute on ...

TABLE 2. Lifetime prevalence <strong>of</strong> solvent, marijuana, and cocaine use
among secondary students at private schools in four
Brazilian cities, 1989.
City
Percentage <strong>of</strong> users
Solvents Marijuana Cocaine
Brasília 23.5 4.3 1.3
Curitiba 16.2 4.0 0.7
Fortaleza 18.1 2.0 0.4
São Paulo 24.5 6.3 1.9
SOURCE: Carlini and colleagues (1990).
use becomes more intense among the youngest students—aged 9 to
11—and less frequent with age. This finding suggests that, in Brazil,
inhalant consumption tends to be particularly intense in the preadolescent
phase and usually subsides as the subjects grow older. This trend also
has been identified in other countries (Fishbume et al. 1980; Oetting et al.
1988).
<strong>Inhalant</strong> use among students seems to be associated with low academic
performance and to those who report one or both parents as heavy
drinkers (table 5). Again, such results are consistent with those for other
countries (Barnes 1979; Cohen 1977; Oetting et al. 1988; Watson 1980).
Another finding merits attention: the fact that early admission to the
workforce on the part <strong>of</strong> young students—a widespread practice among
lower income Brazilian families—was shown to be positively associated
with inhalant abuse (table 5). As seen in table 5, 51.5 percent <strong>of</strong> the
students holding jobs were classified as users, whereas among the
nonusers only 32.6 percent <strong>of</strong> the students held jobs. This aspect should
be the subject <strong>of</strong> further investigation, since it clashes with the commonly
held belief that participation in productive activities is a protective factor
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