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

TABLE 4. Solvent use found for 1,836 students according to age
(percentage).
Age (years)
Classification: Total 9-11 12-14 15-17
(n = 406) (n = 551) (n = 574) (n = 287)
Past users 18.5 13.8 17.1 19.7 25.1
Recent users 4.9 7.4 3.8 5.0 3.1
Users (total) 23.4 21.2 20.9 24.7 28.2
SOURCE: Carlini-Cotrim and Carlini (1988a).
important daily place <strong>of</strong> reference (Rosemberg 1990). This population
can be divided roughly into three major groups:
1. Lower income children or adolescents who live with their families,
attend school (about 4 hours per day), and spend the remainder <strong>of</strong>
the day in the streets;
2. Lower income children or adolescents who live with their families
but have dropped out <strong>of</strong> school and consequently spend the whole
day on the streets; and
3. Lower income children who have been abandoned by their
families or who have left their homes due to mistreatment or abuse
and consequently live full time on the streets. These children have
few, if any, family ties or institutional connections.
When children from any <strong>of</strong> these groups are on the street, their main
activities include informal services, such as shining shoes, looking after
parked cars, selling an assortment <strong>of</strong> small merchandise, as well as
begging, and petty thefts (Carlini-Cotrim and Carlini 1988b; Forster et al.
1992; Silva-Filho et al. 1990). It must be stressed, however, that the
intensity <strong>of</strong> the subjects’ involvement with each <strong>of</strong> these activities varies
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