Classes of drinking motives among American Indian youth drinkers.

Abstract

Research exploring American Indian (AI) youth drinking motives and their relation to negative outcomes is critical due to higher rates of alcohol use and early exposure to intoxication in the population. The purpose of this study is to explore classes of drinking motives as they relate to heavy episodic drinking, perceived discrimination, religious importance, ethnic identity, and ethnic pride. This study is part of an ongoing epidemiologic and etiologic investigation of substance use among AI youth drinkers living on or near reservations (n ϭ 1,934, M age ϭ 15.31). A latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to discern latent classes of drinking motives. Once latent classes were identified, differences in perceived discrimination, ethnic pride, ethnic identity, religious importance, and heavy episodic drinking were tested. A 2-class solution provided the best overall model fit to the data. The higher coping and enhancement motive class was associated with significantly greater heavy episodic drinking, perceived discrimination, and ethnic identity compared with the low motive class. Further, the class structure did not differ between 7th and 8th graders and 9th-12th graders. Results indicate that among AI youth, the class with strong motives to drink for coping or enhancement had higher ethnic identity, greater risk of heavy episodic drinking, and greater perceived discrimination compared with the class with low motives. Future research should examine additional factors and stressors that may be associated with these classes of drinking motives and are unique to the AI population.

Factors That Influence Substance Use Among American Indian/Alaskan Native Youth: A Systematic Mixed Studies Review

“…Community. Positive ethnic identity increased resilience against substance misuse (Brown et al, 2016) and the negative effects of racism (Cwik et al, 2017;Davis et al, 2019;Lowe et al, 2019). Promoting connectedness of the AI/AN youth to their ethnic community increased resilience (Kelley et al, 2019).…”

“…The stress of frequent and intense experiences with racial discrimination may increase a youth's desire to dull the negative effect of discrimination (Garrett et al, 2017). It may be that heavy drinking is a coping mechanism used by AI/AN youth to help cope with discrimination (Davis et al, 2019). AI/AN youth that have perceived racial discrimination are less resilient to substance misuse especially highly addictive substances.…”

“…Peers. Studies have shown that peer social norms related to substance use influence initiation and misuse (Amialchuk et al, 2019;Davis et al, 2019). Adolescents who believe that their peers are against substance use are more likely to remain resilient against using substances.…”

Non-beverage alcohol consumption among individuals experiencing chronic homelessness in Edmonton, Canada: a cross-sectional study

“…Similarly, in a community-based study including data from 735 Indigenous people from 8 reserves, diagnostic assessments revealed a lifetime alcohol abuse prevalence of 50.4% and lifetime alcohol dependence of 24.4% [ 52 ]. In the literature, strong motives to drink have been associated with stronger First Nations identity and greater perceived Indigenous specific racism [ 53 ]. Moreover, poverty is an Indigenous determinant of health due to access to resources on occupied land, and this influences the types of alcohol consumed by First Nations, especially NBA [ 54 , 55 ].…”

Racism and Indigenous Adolescent Development: A Scoping Review

“…Hearing negative views about oneself or cultural group via racist acts may therefore have detrimental long‐term impacts on identity and selfconcept (Cave et al., 2020a). Racism can additionally affect adolescent development through maladaptive coping mechanisms (e.g., substance abuse; Davis et al., 2019) which in turn can lead to ostracism from community and family networks, disrupting central tenants of Indigenous well‐being (Gee et al., 2014). Despite specific vulnerabilities, adolescents can have adaptive responses to racism.…”