“Growth Curve Modeling of AOD Use Among Indian Adolescents” (PI, Beauvais, F.; NIAAA; $750,000 Direct Costs).
This project investigated the patterns of growth and development of alcohol and substance use among urban American Indian youth. The study was based on secondary analysis of a unique prospective study of youth over a nine-year period. Adolescent subjects were followed from a mean age of 11 through a mean age of 19.
Key findings: Similar socialization risk and protective factors were found to be related to initiation of alcohol use as other American youth. Academic competence and the importance of academic competence reduced the rate of alcohol initiation. Family cohesion decreased the relative odds of initiation of alcohol use, while family conflict and the number of drinking peers increased the relative odds. A nuclear family was not found to be protective against initiating alcohol use while living with only a father significantly increased initiation odds. Interestingly, having an alcoholic mother did not significantly increase the odds of initiation, but having an alcoholic father did increase the odds of initiation significantly. The influence of peers versus the family did not vary by age. In fact, the analyses did not find any interactions with age, indicating that the risk and protective factors that determine alcohol initiation are remarkably constant over these adolescent years. Two cultural measures, cultural identification (CI) and ritual participation, were found to be insignificant in predicting initiation.
Relative to no parental diagnosis for alcohol abuse/dependence, youth with one and two parents diagnosed were less likely to perceive family norms against alcohol use. Youth with two parents diagnosed were more likely to report alcohol-related problems at age 18 compared to no parental diagnosis. Rate of decrease in perceived family norms against alcohol use was associated with increasing rate of alcohol use over time. Higher rates of alcohol use at age 13 predicted more alcohol-related problems at age 18.
