Purpose
This study was attempted to find out the differences of characteristics between potential substance-abuse group and healthy group of middle school students in Busan. Method: The participants were 458 middle school students in Busan. The data were collected from 1st September 2004 to 31th October 2004 using structured questionnaire, and then were analyzed by SPSS-WIN 10.0 program with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and x2-test. Results: 23.6% of the subjects have been smoking, and 16.2% of them have been drinking. 18.6% of the subjects was classified to potential substance-abuse group based on the cut-point suggested by Lee et al.. The characteristics of potential substance-abuse adolescents are that they have religion and siblings, that their parents have divorced, that they don't live with their parents, and that their perceived health state is bad. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, It is necessary to develop a substance abuse prevention education program for potential substance-abuse group.
