Substance Use and Ethnicity: Differential Impact of Peer and Adult Models

Abstract

Modeling of a specific behavior by peers and adults is an important influence on an adolescent's choice to engage in that behavior. This study examined the impact of perceived peer and adult substance use on reported self-use within groups of black, Hispanic, Asian, and white teenagers. Effects were studied for four types of drugs: beer/wine, hard liquor, marijuana, and pills. In general, Asians and blacks reported the least self-use, whites reported the most peer models, and blacks reported the most adult models. Differential patterns of increase in use and perceived use by grade level were found across the four ethnic groups. Overall, perceived peer use of beer/wine, liquor, and marijuana was associated more with self-use than was perceived adult use. For pill use, only whites reported significantly greater influence of peers over adults on their self-use. For all substances, blacks reported the least impact of peer use on self-use relative to the three other groups. In regard to the impact of adult use on self-use, blacks and Hispanics reported the lowest for beer or wine; blacks and Asians reported the lowest for marijuana; and whites reported the highest for pills. These results are discussed in the context of differential vulnerability to modeling and vicarious learning.

Psychosocial, cultural and genetic influences on alcohol use in Asian American youth.

“…The observed relationships between parental drinking and alcohol use among Asian American youth in this sample were consistent with our hypotheses and congruent with previous findings (Newcomb and Bentler, 1986). Although parental drinking predicted lifetime and current alcohol use, it was not associated with our index of heavy drinking.…”

“…Research suggests that adolescents of Asian and other ethnic backgrounds share some common correlates of alcohol use (Harachi et al, 2001), including psychosocial factors such as perceived adult and peer alcohol use (Chi et al, 1989;Newcomb and Bentler, 1986). However factors specific to Asian populations-for example, genetic variations in alcohol-metabolizing enzymes (Sun et al, 2002;Wall et al, 2001)-have also been implicated.…”

“…Low rates of parental alcohol use may therefore Contribute to decreased drinking rates among Asian youth, who report reduced exposure to adult alcohol use relative to other adolescents (Au and Donaldson, 2000;Keefe and Newcomb, 1996;Newcomb and Bentler, 1986), Additionally, evidence suggests that concordance between perceived adult substance use and self-use is higher among Asian adolescents than among adolescents of other ethnicities (de Moor et al, 1989;Newcomb and Bentler, 1986). Thus, relative to other youth, parental drinking might serve as an important influence on alcohol use among Asian adolescents, who may experience reduced exposure to parental alcohol use, may exhibit greater concordance between parentuse and self-use, or both.…”

The relation between adolescent alcohol use and peer alcohol use: A longitudinal random coefficients model.

“…First, the Farrell and Danish (1993) sample was composed primarily of African Americans, and peer influences have been reported to be weaker for this ethnic group (Brannock, Schandler, & Oncley, 1990;Newcomb & Bentler, 1986). A second issue is that the analyses of Farrell and Danish (1993) and FarreU (1994) consisted of traditional fixed-effects autoregressive (AR) structural equation models.…”

Promoting Reduced and Discontinued Substance Use among Adolescent Substance Users: Effectiveness of a Universal Prevention Program

“…Alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use were measured separately on 6-point Likert scales (1 = None; 2 = One; 3 = 2-3; 4 = 4-7; 5 = 8-15; 6 = 16 to 30 days). These measures were modeled on questionnaire items about the frequency of drug use created by Flannery et al (1994), and were chosen so that question wording and response categories were developmentally appropriate for the age group under study and for their similarity to measures used in other large early adolescent drug use studies (e.g., Kandel & Wu, 1995;Newcomb & Bentler, 1986). The distributions for the prior substance use severity measures were skewed toward infrequent use, with 45 percent of the alcohol and cigarette users and 38 percent of the marijuana users reporting use in only one of the previous 30 days.…”