Adolescent drug taking: role of family and peers

To study the influence of family and peers on drug-taking behavior in adolescents, confidential self-reports were obtained from 3333 London adolescents about their use of solvents and illicit drugs. They were also asked about their perception of their best friend's and any family member's use of drugs. The results show that both family and peer's use of drugs were influential. However, peers were more influential than family regardless of whether they took drugs or not and both factors can also have a synergistic effect. The implications of the findings are discussed.