Table 1
Use of Alcohol, Cigarette and Illicit Drugs in the Previous 30 Days: Eighth Graders
  1991 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Used no substances in past 30 days 69.1 67.3 64.7 66.9 68.5 68.7 71.2 72.6 72.5 75.9 76.4 78.5 78.7
   
Gender  
   Male 67.7 66.7 64.0 66.0 68.0 68.4 70.8 71.1 72.8 76.9 77.0 79.1 79.6
   Female 70.7 68.1 65.6 67.8 69.2 69.3 71.8 74.1 72.5 75.4 76.2 78.0 78.3
   
Race  
   White 68.5 66.1 62.8 65.4 66.9 67.6 69.4 71.8 72.2 75.9 77.0 78.7 79.8
   Black 78.5 76.8 73.6 75.2 77.5 75.7 79.2 79.1 77.5 78.7 77.4 80.6 83.0
   
Parental Education1  
Less than high school 58.8 58.6 59.5 57.4 58.2 58.8 60.0 63.2 61.8 68.3 65.7 67.5 68.7
Completed high school 66.6 62.2 60.3 63.4 63.2 62.3 65.3 65.9 65.4 70.1 72.0 72.9 74.2
Some college 69.4 64.5 62.2 63.4 66.1 68.2 69.9 70.4 70.6 73.9 75.2 76.3 76.8
Completed college 72.6 73.2 67.7 70.2 73.2 74.0 77.4 78.4 77.2 80.3 79.7 83.2 83.3
Graduate school 71.9 73.2 70.7 73.9 73.8 74.5 76.8 79.4 80.0 82.0 81.5 84.8 84.0
   
College Plans  
   None or under 4 years 52.6 46.7 44.9 44.4 44.2 44.6 47.0 49.9 50.4 53.9 54.1 55.6 59.3
   Complete four years 72.0 69.9 67.6 69.3 71.5 71.7 74.0 75.1 74.7 78.4 78.8 80.9 80.6
   
  1991 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Used only one substance in past 30 days2 19.6 16.7 17.3 17.1 16.1 16.5 15.8 15.4 15.5 14.1 14.4 12.6 13.0
   
Gender  
   Male 20.2 17.2 17.9 18.0 17.1 16.8 16.4 16.1 14.7 14.1 14.7 12.2 12.5
   Female 19.0 16.3 16.5 16.1 15.1 16.2 15.2 14.9 16.0 13.9 14.0 12.8 13.4
   
Race  
   White 20.1 16.6 17.9 17.0 17.1 16.6 16.4 15.6 15.5 14.1 13.9 12.3 12.0
   Black 17.0 15.4 15.0 15.9 12.7 15.1 13.3 12.9 14.5 13.7 15.4 12.4 12.2
   
Parental Education1  
Less than high school 20.4 19.7 20.0 20.4 18.5 17.6 18.4 18.4 18.6 16.0 19.7 16.6 16.8
Completed high school 20.3 18.9 18.6 18.8 17.3 19.0 17.6 18.1 18.6 15.7 15.6 14.6 14.9
Some college 19.8 17.9 18.7 18.6 17.3 15.8 17.0 16.5 17.2 15.9 14.8 13.4 14.1
Completed college 19.2 14.1 15.9 15.9 15.0 16.3 13.6 13.2 13.5 12.2 13.6 11.0 11.1
Graduate school 19.0 13.8 14.4 13.5 14.3 13.7 13.5 13.5 11.8 11.9 12.7 10.5 11.2
   
College Plans  
   None or under 4 years 22.9 22.8 19.4 21.0 19.4 21.0 22.3 19.7 19.7 18.7 20.6 18.9 17.1
   Complete four years 18.9 16.0 16.9 16.7 15.5 15.9 15.0 15.0 15.1 13.4 13.7 11.9 12.6
   
  1991 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Used two substances in past 30 days 8.0 9.2 10.2 9.1 8.7 8.3 7.7 7.0 7.7 5.8 5.7 5.2 4.9
   
Gender  
   Male 8.7 9.7 10.5 9.0 8.6 8.5 7.6 7.6 7.8 5.1 5.7 5.0 4.9
   Female 7.3 8.7 10.0 9.0 8.7 8.0 7.7 6.5 7.5 6.4 5.8 5.4 4.7
   
Race  
   White 8.1 10.0 10.9 9.8 9.0 9.0 8.3 7.2 7.7 5.8 5.7 5.0 4.8
   Black 3.9 5.0 7.6 6.0 6.4 5.5 4.7 6.2 5.4 5.1 4.5 5.3 3.1
   
Parental Education1  
Less than high school 14.8 11.3 11.2 11.0 11.6 11.6 11.5 9.4 12.5 8.3 7.7 8.9 7.9
Completed high school 9.2 10.8 11.3 9.7 11.4 10.0 9.9 9.6 9.9 7.4 8.1 7.1 6.1
Some college 7.4 10.1 10.5 10.2 8.8 10.1 7.8 7.8 7.8 6.2 6.1 5.6 5.5
Completed college 6.4 7.6 10.1 8.1 7.0 4.9 5.7 5.0 6.3 4.6 4.3 3.8 3.8
Graduate school 6.3 7.8 9.0 7.4 7.1 7.0 5.8 4.9 5.4 3.9 4.0 3.3 2.8
   
College Plans  
   None or under 4 years 14.8 13.5 16.9 16.7 17.7 14.5 15.2 14.8 16.0 13.2 12.9 12.5 11.0
   Complete four years 6.9 8.6 9.3 8.2 7.7 7.6 6.8 6.2 6.8 5.1 5.1 4.4 4.3
   
  1991 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Used all three substances in past 30 days 3.3 6.8 7.9 7.0 6.8 6.5 5.4 4.9 4.4 4.3 3.4 3.7 3.4
   
Gender  
   Male 3.4 6.4 7.6 7.0 6.3 6.3 5.3 5.1 4.6 3.9 2.7 3.6 3.0
   Female 3.1 6.9 7.9 7.1 7.0 6.6 5.3 4.6 4.1 4.4 4.0 3.8 3.7
   
Race  
   White 3.4 7.3 8.4 7.8 7.0 6.9 5.8 5.4 4.6 4.3 3.4 3.9 3.4
   Black 0.6 2.8 3.9 2.9 3.5 3.7 2.8 1.8 2.7 2.4 2.7 1.7 1.7
   
Parental Education1  
Less than high school 6.0 10.4 9.3 11.2 11.7 12.0 10.1 9.0 7.1 7.3 6.9 7.0 6.5
Completed high school 4.0 8.1 9.8 8.0 8.1 8.7 7.2 6.5 6.1 6.8 4.3 5.5 4.8
Some college 3.4 7.6 8.6 7.8 7.8 6.0 5.3 5.3 4.4 4.0 3.9 4.7 3.7
Completed college 1.8 5.1 6.2 5.8 4.8 4.8 3.4 3.4 3.1 2.9 2.4 2.1 1.8
Graduate school 2.8 5.2 5.9 5.1 4.9 4.9 3.9 2.3 2.7 2.2 1.8 1.5 2.0
   
College Plans  
   None or under 4 years 9.7 17.0 18.8 17.9 18.7 20.0 15.5 15.6 14.0 14.2 12.4 12.9 12.6
   Complete four years 2.2 5.5 6.2 5.7 5.4 4.9 4.2 3.7 3.4 3.1 2.5 2.8 2.5
Text Box: 1 Parental education is calculated by the Institute for Social Research as the average of the mother's and father's education.  Child Trends has relabeled these results to reflect the education level of the most educated parent.  In those circumstances where the gap between mothers' and fathers' education is more than one level, this results is an underestimate of the most educated parent's education level.
Text Box: 2 Indicates they have used only one of alcohol, cigarettes or illicit drugs.  May in fact have used multiple types of illicit drugs.

Source: Original analysis by Child Trends of Monitoring the Future Data, 1991-2006