The Current projects at the Tri Ethnic Center are:

1. Alcohol Use and Rural Adolescents: Individual and Contextual Effects of Rural and Non-Rural Adolescent Alcohol Use

Alcohol is the most widely used substance among adolescents in the United States, and there is a large body of research exploring its etiology. The majority of this previous research, however, is focused on individual-level risk and protective factors. Although there have been a few studies that have shown that community and school environments do have an influence on alcohol use, there is a considerable need for further research on the influence of contextual variables, particularly among rural youth. There is also a need for research on how ethnicity influences these relationships.

This study is an in-depth analysis of already collected data on adolescent drug use in a very large sample of 272 rural and non-rural communities, including an oversample of ethnic minority communities. It investigates how individual, school, and community characteristics relate to individual alcohol use and alcohol-related problems and to community levels of adolescent alcohol use. Specifically, we are working to:

• Determine patterns of adolescent alcohol consumption by gender, age, student ethnicity, level of rurality, region, and ethnicity of community.
• Estimate the effect of individual, community, and school-level risk and protective factors on adolescent alcohol use, including physical and social availability measures.
• Examine patterns of adolescent alcohol-related problems by (1) gender, age, student ethnicity, level of rurality, region, and ethnicity of community; (2) level of alcohol use; (3) drinking locations; and (4) community and school norms related to alcohol use.
• Examine the types of drinking locations and contexts by gender, age, student ethnicity, level of rurality, region, ethnicity of community, and costs of drinking.
• Identify community characteristics that predict community norms regarding adolescent alcohol use and perceived availability of alcohol.

2.The American Indian Youth Drug & Alchohol Survey:

This project targets the use of drugs and alchohol in the American Indian Community. For more details visit the Native American Projects