Differences in Substance Use and Receipt of Substance Abuse Prevention Education and Services, by Disability Category

Reported substance use, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and marijuana and other illegal drug use, varied by disability category.¹⁸

Smoking
The reported rate of smoking on one or more days in the past 30 days ranged from 10 percent to 53 percent across disability categories (table 1). Young adults with emotional disturbances had the highest reported percentage of cigarette smoking among all disability groups; more than half (53 percent) reported smoking on one or more of the past 30 days. This rate was higher than those reported by individuals with learning disabilities (30 percent, p < .01), traumatic brain injuries (30 percent, p < .05), other health impairments (28 percent, p < .001), speech/ language (22 percent, p < .001) or hearing impairments (22 percent, p < .001), mental retardation (21 percent, p < .001), deafblindness (19 percent, p < .001), multiple disabilities (14 percent, p < .001), visual impairments (14 percent, p < .001), autism (11 percent, p < .001), or orthopedic impairments (10 percent, p < .001).

A larger percentage of young adults with learning disabilities (30 percent) reported smoking in the past 30 days, compared with those in several other disability categories, including visual impairment (14 percent, p < .05), autism (11 percent, p < .01), and orthopedic impairment (10 percent, p < .001) . The reported rate of cigarette smokers among young adults with other health impairments (28 percent) also was higher than those for young adults with visual impairments (14 percent, p < .05), autism (11 percent, p < .05), or orthopedic impairments (10 percent, p < .01). Young adults with traumatic brain injuries (30 percent) or speech/language impairments (22 percent) reported a higher rate of smoking compared with individuals with orthopedic impairments (10 percent, p < .05 for both comparisons).

From 5 percent to 39 percent of young adults with disabilities reported smoking daily during the past 30 days. Young adults with emotional disturbances reported a higher rate of daily smoking (39 percent) than those in all other disability categories, including young adults with other health impairments (22 percent, p < .05), learning disabilities (20 percent, p < .01), speech/language impairments (13 percent, p < .001), traumatic brain injuries (12 percent, p < .01), deaf-blindness (12 percent, p < .001), hearing impairments (10 percent, p < .001), multiple disabilities (9 percent, p < .001), mental retardation (8 percent, p < .001), visual impairments (8 percent, p < .001), orthopedic impairments (8 percent, p < .001), or autism (5 percent, p < .001).

Young adults with other health impairments (22 percent) were more likely to report smoking every day than individuals in 9 of the 11 other disability categories, including young adults with hearing impairments (10 percent, p < .05), mental retardation (8 percent, p < .05), visual impairments (8 percent, p < .05), orthopedic impairments (8 percent, p < .01), or autism (5 percent, p < .01).

A larger percentage of young adults with learning disabilities (20 percent) reported daily smoking than did young adults with mental retardation (8 percent, p < .05), visual impairments (8 percent, p < .05), orthopedic impairments (8 percent, p < .05), or autism (5 percent, p < .01).

Young adults with disabilities who reported smoking in the past 30 days reported smoking from 7 to 11 cigarettes per day, a number that varied according to disability category. Among young adults who reported smoking, those with emotional disturbances reported smoking an average of 11 cigarettes per day, whereas young adults with speech/language impairments reported smoking an average of 7 cigarettes per day, a difference that was significant (p < .05).

Alcohol Consumption
The percentage of young adults who reported having one or more alcoholic drinks in the past 30 days ranged from 12 percent to 54 percent across disability categories. Young adults with emotional disturbances were more likely to report having had at least one alcoholic drink in the past 30 days (54 percent) than young adults with hearing impairments (36 percent, p < .05), deafblindness (30 percent, p < .05), mental retardation (20 percent, p < .001), orthopedic impairments (20 percent, p < .001), multiple disabilities (18 percent, p < .001), or autism (12 percent, p < .001).

The reported use of alcohol in the past 30 days for young adults with learning disabilities (51 percent) was higher than that for young adults with deaf-blindness (30 percent, p < .05), mental retardation (20 percent, p < .001), orthopedic impairments (20 percent, p < .001), multiple disabilities (18 percent, p < .001), or autism (12 percent, p < .001).

Young adults with visual (42 percent), other health (42 percent), or speech/language impairments (41 percent) reported higher rates of alcohol use in the past 30 days than did those with mental retardation (20 percent; p < .05 for visual impairments, p < .01 for other health and speech/language impairments), orthopedic impairments (20 percent, p < .01 for all comparisons), multiple disabilities (18 percent; p < .05 for visual impairments, p < .01 for other health and speech/language impairments), or autism (12 percent, p < .001 for all comparisons).

Young adults with hearing impairments (36 percent) were more likely to report having had one or more drinks in the past 30 days than were those with orthopedic impairments (20 percent, p < .05) or autism (12 percent, p < .01). Finally, young adults with traumatic brain injuries (36 percent) were more likely to report alcohol use than those with autism (12 percent, p < .05).

Marijuana and Cocaine Use
Reported marijuana use ranged from 2 percent to 33 percent for young adults across disability categories. One-third (33 percent) of young adults with emotional disturbances reported having used marijuana in the past 30 days, a rate more than twice that of young adults in the next highest category (learning disabilities; 16 percent, p < .01) and higher than those reported by young adults in all other disability categories: those with speech/language impairments (14 percent, p < .01), other health impairments (14 percent, p < .01), traumatic brain injuries (14 percent, p < .05), hearing impairments (12 percent, p < .01), visual impairments (10 percent, p < .001), mental retardation (6 percent, p < .001), orthopedic impairments (5 percent, p < .001), deaf-blindness (5 percent, p < .001), multiple disabilities (5 percent, p < .001), or autism (2 percent, p < .001).

A larger percentage of young adults with learning disabilities (16 percent) reported using marijuana in the past 30 days than did those with deaf-blindness (5 percent, p < .05), orthopedic impairments (5 percent, p < .05), or autism (2 percent, p < .001). A greater percentage of individuals with speech/language impairments (14 percent) or other health impairments (14 percent) reported using marijuana in the past 30 days than did individuals with orthopedic impairments (5 percent, p < .05 for both comparisons) or autism (2 percent, p < .01 for both comparisons). Finally, young adults with hearing impairments (12 percent) reported a higher rate of marijuana use than did those with autism (2 percent, p < .05).

With regard to frequency of use, young adults with emotional disturbances (16 percent) were more likely to report having used marijuana 10 or more times during the past 30 days than were young adults in most other disability categories, including young adults with learning disabilities (6 percent, p < .05), other health impairments (5 percent, p < .05), speech/ language impairments (4 percent, p < .05), multiple disabilities (3 percent, p < .05), visual impairments (3 percent, p < .01), orthopedic impairments (2 percent, p < .01), hearing impairments (2 percent, p < .01), autism (0.6 percent, p < .001), or mental retardation (0.3 percent, p < .001). A larger percentage of young adults with learning disabilities (6 percent) reported marijuana use 10 or more times during the past 30 days than did those with mental retardation (0.3 percent, p < .05).

Across disability categories, reported cocaine use in the past 30 days ranged from less than 1 percent to 3 percent. Young adults did not differ significantly in their reported use of cocaine by disability category.

Other Illegal Drug Use
The reported rate of using illegal drugs other than marijuana or cocaine in the past 30 days ranged from less than 1 percent to 10 percent across disability categories. Young adults with emotional disturbances (10 percent) were more likely to report using other illegal drugs than were those with learning disabilities (2 percent, p < .05), hearing impairments (2 percent, p < .05), mental retardation (1 percent, p < .05), traumatic brain injuries (1 percent, p < .05), or multiple disabilities (0.1 percent, p < .01).

Any Illegal Drug Use
When considering any type of illegal drug use in the past 30 days, young adults with emotional disturbances had the highest reported rate (36 percent) across all disability categories. They were more likely to report using any illegal drugs than those with learning disabilities (16 percent, p < .01); other health impairments (16 percent, p < .01); traumatic brain injuries (15 percent, p < .05); speech/language (15 percent, p < .001), visual (14 percent, p < .01), hearing (12 percent, p < .001), or orthopedic impairments (7 percent, p < .001); deaf-blindness (7 percent, p < .001); mental retardation (7 percent, p < .001); autism (6 percent, p < .001); or multiple disabilities (6 percent, p < .001).

Receipt of Substance Abuse Prevention Education and Services
There were no significant differences across disability categories in the reported receipt of substance abuse prevention education or services when these young adults were students in high school (table 2).

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