Table 9

Long-Term Trends in Disapproval of Drug Use by Twelfth Graders

Percentage disapproving (a)
Do you disapprove of people (who are 18 or older) doing each of the following? (b)
Class
of 1975
Class
of 1976
Class
of 1977
Class
of 1978
Class
of 1979
Class
of 1980
Class
of 1981
Class
of 1982
Class
of 1983
Class
of 1984
Class
of 1985
Class
of 1986
Class
of 1987
Class
of 1988
Class
of 1989
Class
of 1990
Class
of 1991
Class
of 1992
Class
of 1993
Class
of 1994
Class
of 1995
Class
of 1996
Class
of 1997
Class
of 1998
 '97-'98 change
Try marijuana once or twice 47.0 38.4 33.4 33.4 34.2 39.0 40.0 45.5 46.3 49.3 51.4 54.6 56.6 60.8 64.6 67.8 68.7 69.9 63.3 57.6 56.7 52.5 51.0 51.6 +0.6
Smoke marijuana occasionally 54.8 47.8 44.3 43.5 45.3 49.7 52.6 59.1 60.7 63.5 65.8 69.0 71.6 74.0 77.2 80.5 79.4 79.7 75.5 68.9 66.7 62.9 63.2 64.4 +1.2
Smoke marijuana regularly 71.9 69.5 65.5 67.5 69.2 74.6 77.4 80.6 82.5 84.7 85.5 86.6 89.2 89.3 89.8 91.0 89.3 90.1 87.6 82.3 81.9 80.0 78.8 81.2 +2.4
Try LSD once or twice 82.8 84.6 83.9 85.4 86.6 87.3 86.4 88.8 89.1 88.9 89.5 89.2 91.6 89.8 89.7 89.8 90.1 88.1 85.9 82.5 81.1 79.6 80.5 82.1 +1.6
Take LSD regularly 94.1 95.3 95.8 96.4 96.9 96.7 96.8 96.7 97.0 96.8 97.0 96.6 97.8 96.4 96.4 96.3 96.4 95.5 95.8 94.3 92.5 93.2 92.9 93.5 +0.6
Try MDMA once or twice -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 82.2 82.5 +0.3
Try cocaine once or twice 81.3 82.4 79.1 77.0 74.7 76.3 74.6 76.6 77.0 79.7 79.3 80.2 87.3 89.1 90.5 91.5 93.6 93.0 92.7 91.6 90.3 90.0 88.0 89.5 +1.5
Take cocaine regularly 93.3 93.9 92.1 91.9 90.8 91.1 90.7 91.5 93.2 94.5 93.8 94.3 96.7 96.2 96.4 96.7 97.3 96.9 97.5 96.6 96.1 95.6 96.0 95.6 -0.4
Try crack once or twice -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 92.3 92.1 93.1 89.9 89.5 91.4 87.4 87.0 86.7 -0.3
Take crack occasionally -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 94.3 94.2 95.0 92.8 92.8 94.0 91.2 91.3 90.9 -0.4
Take crack regularly -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 94.9 95.0 95.5 93.4 93.1 94.1 93.0 92.3 91.9 -0.4
Try cocaine powder once or twice -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 87.9 88.0 89.4 86.6 87.1 88.3 83.1 83.0 83.1 +0.1
Take cocaine powder occasionally -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 92.1 93.0 93.4 91.2 91.0 92.7 89.7 89.3 88.7 -0.6
Take cocaine powder regularly -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 93.7 94.4 94.3 93.0 92.5 93.8 92.9 91.5 91.1 -0.4
Class
of 1975
Class
of 1976
Class
of 1977
Class
of 1978
Class
of 1979
Class
of 1980
Class
of 1981
Class
of 1982
Class
of 1983
Class
of 1984
Class
of 1985
Class
of 1986
Class
of 1987
Class
of 1988
Class
of 1989
Class
of 1990
Class
of 1991
Class
of 1992
Class
of 1993
Class
of 1994
Class
of 1995
Class
of 1996
Class
of 1997
Class
of 1998
 '97-'98 change
Try heroin once or twice 91.5 92.6 92.5 92.0 93.4 93.5 93.5 94.6 94.3 94.0 94.0 93.3 96.2 95.0 95.4 95.1 96.0 94.9 94.4 93.2 92.8 92.1 92.3 93.7 +1.4
Take heroin occasionally 94.8 96.0 96.0 96.4 96.8 96.7 97.2 96.9 96.9 97.1 96.8 96.6 97.9 96.9 97.2 96.7 97.3 96.8 97.0 96.2 95.7 95.0 95.4 96.1 +0.7
Take heroin regularly 96.7 97.5 97.2 97.8 97.9 97.6 97.8 97.5 97.7 98.0 97.6 97.6 98.1 97.2 97.4 97.5 97.8 97.2 97.5 97.1 96.4 96.3 96.4 96.6 +0.2
Try amphetamines once or twice 74.8 75.1 74.2 74.8 75.1 75.4 71.1 72.6 72.3 72.8 74.9 76.5 80.7 82.5 83.3 85.3 86.5 86.9 84.2 81.3 82.2 79.9 81.3 82.5 +1.2
Take amphetamines regularly 92.1 92.8 92.5 93.5 94.4 93.0 91.7 92.0 92.6 93.6 93.3 93.5 95.4 94.2 94.2 95.5 96.0 95.6 96.0 94.1 94.3 93.5 94.3 94.0 -0.3
Try barbiturates once or twice 77.7 81.3 81.1 82.4 84.0 83.9 82.4 84.4 83.1 84.1 84.9 86.8 89.6 89.4 89.3 90.5 90.6 90.3 89.7 87.5 87.3 84.9 86.4 86.0 -0.4
Take barbiturates regularly 93.3 93.6 93.0 94.3 95.2 95.4 94.2 94.4 95.1 95.1 95.5 94.9 96.4 95.3 95.3 96.4 97.1 96.5 97.0 96.1 95.2 94.8 95.3 94.6 -0.7
Try one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage (beer, wine, liquor) 21.6 18.2 15.6 15.6 15.8 16.0 17.2 18.2 18.4 17.4 20.3 20.9 21.4 22.6 27.3 29.4 29.8 33.0 30.1 28.4 27.3 26.5 26.1 24.5 -1.6
Take one or two drinks nearly every day 67.6 68.9 66.8 67.7 68.3 69.0 69.1 69.9 68.9 72.9 70.9 72.8 74.2 75.0 76.5 77.9 76.5 75.9 77.8 73.1 73.3 70.8 70.0 69.4 -0.6
Take four or five drinks nearly every day 88.7 90.7 88.4 90.2 91.7 90.8 91.8 90.9 90.0 91.0 92.0 91.4 92.2 92.8 91.6 91.9 90.6 90.8 90.6 89.8 88.8 89.4 88.6 86.7 -1.9
Have five or more drinks once or twice each weekend 60.3 58.6 57.4 56.2 56.7 55.6 55.5 58.8 56.6 59.6 60.4 62.4 62.0 65.3 66.5 68.9 67.4 70.7 70.1 65.1 66.7 64.7 65.0 63.8 -1.2
Smoke one or more packs of cigarettes per day 67.5 65.9 66.4 67.0 70.3 70.8 69.9 69.4 70.8 73.0 72.3 75.4 74.3 73.1 72.4 72.8 71.4 73.5 70.6 69.8 68.2 67.2 67.1 68.8 +1.7
Take steroids -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 90.8 90.5 92.1 92.1 91.9 91.0 91.7 91.4 90.8 -0.6
Approx. N = 2677 2957 3085 3686 3221 3261 3610 3651 3341 3254 3265 3113 3302 3311 2799 2566 2547 2645 2723 2588 2603 2399 2601 2545


NOTES: Level of significance of difference between the two most recent classes: s = .05, ss = .01, sss = .001. '--' indicates data not available.
SOURCE: The Monitoring the Future Study, the University of Michigan.

(a) Answer alternatives were: (1) Don't disapprove, (2) Disapprove, and (3) Strongly disapprove. Percentages are shown for categories (2) and (3) combined.
(b) The 1975 question asked about people who are "20 or older."