The Effect of Earlier or Later Transition into Middle School on Students' Psychosocial Adjustment and Drug Use

Abstract

This study compared the psychosocial adjustment and drug use of eighth grade students beginning middle school in the fifth, sixth, or seventh grade. Eighth grade students beginning middle school in the fifth and sixth grade had more favorable drug use attitudes, had more drug using friends, and felt their friends were less opposed to using drugs than did students beginning middle school in the seventh grade. Eighth grade students beginning middle school in the sixth grade used drugs more frequently than students beginning in the seventh grade. The school organization variables were not statistically significant in a model which accounted for 67 percent of the variance in the drug use variable. The significance of the grade-level organization of schools is discussed.