Community’s Role and School’s Role in Protecting against Student Substance Use: A Spatial Analysis

Abstract

Employing school catchment areas (SCAs) to represent communities in Alabama, this study hypothesized that student substance use would be most prevalent where structural disadvantages were most numerous and school- and community-bestowed encouragement of or rewards for students’ prosocial behaviors were scant. We employed data from the 2000 census and a secondary data set produced by the Alabama Department of Mental Health. Overall, we observed significant, strong effects on student substance use wielded by the community’s and school’s protective roles. Our results confirmed location as an explanatory factor, in that substance use in one community affected substance use in neighboring communities.

Keywords::

• alcohol-outlet density
• social organization factors
• spatial analysis
• structural disadvantages
• student substance use