An ecological analysis of the interrelationships among drug abuse and other indices of social pathology.

In a study of the interrelationships among 12 separate indices of social pathology, including drug abuse, in which census tracts were the units of analysis, moderate to high intercorrelations among all indices were observed. A subsequent components-types factor analysis revealed only a single eigenvalue greater than unity, suggesting that the interrelationships among the several indices may be most parsimoniously explained in terms of a single underlying construct-generalized social pathology. Exact factor scores on this construct were computed for each tract, and those may be viewed as estimates of the degree of social upheaval present.