Adolescent Inhalant Use and Perceived Stress

We surveyed 1,684 students from Grades 7 through 12 on their use of inhalants and the types of circumstances they perceived as stressful. Inhalant users were classified as abstainers, experimental, and regular users. Male abstainers were found to exhibit lower (p ≤ .05) mean stress scores as compared to males in the experimental and regular user groups. Among females, abstainers exhibited lower (p ≤ .05) mean stress scores than regular users but did not differ (p ≤ .05) with experimental users. For both males and females, the largest mean differences between abstainers and regular users occurred in the area of teachers. Educators should consider inclusion of stress management and the teaching of coping skills in drug education programs.