A Substance Use Survey With Old Order Amish Early Adolescents: Perceptions of Peer Alcohol and Drug Use

Abstract

Students in a junior high school serving a large Old Order Amish settlement completed a survey of attitudes, opinions, and intentions regarding substance use. A total of 1,031 students participated across a four-year span, approximately equally divided between Amish and non-Amish youths. Amish youths maintain attitudes that suggest perceived greater use of substances by their peers and greater concern about this use; however, they also express the intent to use alcohol and tobacco at a higher rate than non-Amish counterparts. The study addresses implications for interventions among Amish youths as they mature and enter an often culturally sanctioned period of alcohol use.

KEYWORDS:

• alcohol use
• Amish
• peer perceptions

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the work of Seth Gibson in the preparation of this article.

No effort with the Amish achieves even a moderate level of success without the support of members of the Amish community itself. Because of their humility, they prefer to remain anonymous, and we reluctantly comply.

Notes

Notes. ^a Lower mean scores indicate more positive attitudes toward alcohol and drug use.

^b Lower mean scores indicate a belief that fewer peers use substances.

^c Lower mean scores indicate less concern with learning to abstain.

^d Lower mean scores indicate fewer influences.

^e For this and all substances, lower mean scores indicate less intended use by peers.