Individual and environmental predictors of substance use among at-risk Asian and Pacific Islander adolescent females

Abstract

This study investigated the hypothesized effects of six individual factors (greater aggression, less conventionality, greater delinquent behavior, greater depression, prior substance use, and self-efficacy deficit) and four environmental factors (greater community risk, lower levels of family bonding, and greater peer and parent substance use) on substance use among at-risk Asian and Pacific Islander (API) female adolescents in Hawaiʻi. Participants consisted of 128 seventh grade API females who attended ʻIlima Intermediate School in Ewa Beach during five semesters between 1996 and 1998. For each cohort, the measures were administered at the beginning of the semester in a classroom setting. Results of simultaneous multiple and logistic regression analyses indicated that environmental factors have the strongest relationship with all three types of substance use. Greater delinquent behavior, greater parent and peer substance use, and less family bonding were related to higher scores on a global measure of cigarette use. Greater parent and peer substance use were related to higher scores on a global measure of alcohol use. Greater community risk, parent substance use, and alcohol use were related to higher scores on a global measure of marijuana use. Individual items measuring parent (illicit) drug use and peer marijuana use were substituted for the parent and peer substance use composite measures because peer substance use, a consistent predictor of adolescent substance use, was not a significant predictor of marijuana use. Results of the revised regression model indicated that greater parent (illicit) drug use, peer marijuana use, and alcohol use were related to higher scores on a global measure of marijuana use. Results of this study provide support for the stage model of substance use. Alcohol use was a significant predictor in the marijuana use model and all subjects who reported marijuana use reported cigarette or alcohol use, with most reporting both cigarette and alcohol use. The findings in this study provide information that may be used in the design and implementation of prevention and treatment programs for at-risk API female adolescents.