7.3 Further Conclusions from Multivariate Analyses

The NHSDA data indicate that there appears to be a relationship between workplace policies about drug and alcohol use and workers= substance abuse behavior. Workers reported that their employers tested for drug use as part of the hiring process or among current employees on a random basis were less likely to report that they used illicit drugs in the past month than workers who reported that their workplace did not test. Furthermore, workers in 1997 who reported that their workplace did not have a written policy about alcohol or drug use were about twice as likely to report they used one or more illicit drugs in the past month as workers who reported that their workplaces had written policies about alcohol or drug use. This positive association was found to be independent of gender, race and ethnicity, income, region, and workplace establishment size. These odds ratios just failed to achieve statistical significance at the p=.05 level.