| Summary: | This study was designed to provide a model for the data analysis needed to plan substance abuse prevention programs on a local level targeting poor, culturally diverse, adult women. Both this portion of the population and this method of intervention have received the least attention in the literature. === Two multivariate data analyses, multiple regression and Automatic Interaction Detection (AID), were evaluated in terms of their utility to program planners by comparing the rank orderings of the independent variables in terms of their explanatory ability and the proportion of explained variance (R$\sp2$). The sample included poor, culturally diverse women from Dade and Broward Counties, Florida recruited from local jails and detention centers, public health facilities, and publicly funded drug and alcohol treatment centers. A composite index of their multiple substance use (i.e., alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin) was examined in terms of various personal and social characteristics using the two multivariate procedures. === The rankings of the independent variables based on explanatory ability differed significantly providing empirical confirmation that substance use among women should be considered a multidimensional phenomenon with multiple pathways to abuse. The AID procedure explained a significantly higher proportion of variance suggesting that AID provided a more accurate description of the sample than did multiple regression. Further, AID imposed fewer technical demands and fewer assumptions with associated distortions. === Those factors most highly associated with substance use included having illegal activities as one's primary source of income, reproductive control, prior history of experimentation with substances, and current involvement in prostitution. It was concluded that prevention resources could most profitably be concentrated on younger population cohorts and that these adult women were in need of treatment services. Discussion included recommendations for structuring the treatment system and the implications for future substance abuse research and for the social work profession. === Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-10, Section: A, page: 3676. === Major Professor: Dianne Harrison Montgomery. === Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.
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