Sunday, 16 January 2005 - 8:45 AM

This presentation is part of: Subtance Abuse in Adolescents

Substance Use Among Mexican/ Mexican American Adolescents: Exploring the Relationship between Gender, Acculturation, and Parental Monitoring

The intent of this study is to advance the current understanding of Latino substance use by narrowing the focus to recognize the heterogeneity of Latino populations and to identify the specific experiences of Mexicans and Mexican Americans of the Southwest. This study explores the relationships between parental monitoring, acculturation, and gender as they relate to Mexican/Mexican American adolescent substance use among a population living in a Southwestern metropolis of the United States. The sample is composed of the Mexican/Mexican American students of the eighth grade population, who participated in a replication study of a randomized trial of a drug prevention program, at an urban middle school in the Southwest United States. The respondents are 51% male and 49% female, predominately low SES with 86.2% of the students receiving federally subsidized free or reduced cost lunch. Nearly one third of the students were born outside the United States, and the majority of students reported at least one parent born outside the US, reflecting a population of immigrant and first generation Americans. The data for this study were analyzed through secondary analysis of the drug prevention program's data, with a new set of hypotheses guiding the analysis. It was hypothesized that acculturation status would mediate the relationship between parental monitoring and substance use among the sample with a stronger effect observed for girls. Regression analysis examined the relationships between acculturation, parental monitoring, and substance use, controlling for age, SES, school achievement, ethnic identity, and parent and respondent origin. Models were run separately by gender in order to identify how trends in substance use patterns and correlates differ by gender. The findings did not support the acculturation hypothesis. However, the findings uncovered substantial differences between the correlates of substance use for girls and those for boys. Results indicated ecosystemic factors influencing the substance use by girls, while no factor studied adequately predicted the substance use by boys. The findings underscore the need to further understand gender differences in socialization and in substance use in order that intervention and prevention programs might adequately address the needs of the population being served. Implications for social work practice to be discussed include use of culturally grounded models of practice with Mexican/Mexican American populations and designing and implementing prevention programs specifically for girls to address the areas of risk and to promote protective factors among Mexican/Mexican American adolescent girls. Implications for social policy will reflect on the current political environment that promotes dominant culture norms and will consider the potential risks of such policy to this population.

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