The Impact of Poverty, Race, and Gender on Use of Illicit Substances and Perceived Risk of Use Among Transitional Aged Youth

Background and Purpose:  Adolescents and young adults are at a transitional time in their lives, and substance use at this age could decrease chances of successfully graduating from high school, pursuing secondary education, and becoming employed and economically self-sufficient.  Additionally, early substance use can increase mental health, social, and legal problems.  Social disadvantage (factors associated with low social status) has been postulated to contribute to substance use, although it is unknown whether poverty, racial minority status, or gender are predictors of substance use in this population.  Thus, this project sought to explore whether poverty, race, or gender were predictive of illicit substance use or lower perceived risk of illicit substance use in a large, nationally representative sample of transitional aged youth.   

Methods:  Multiple regression was used to test whether poverty status, racial minority status, and gender were predictive of marijuana, cocaine, or heroin use (while controlling for age) in a nationally representative sample of 14-25 year olds (N = 19,264).  Secondary data from the NSDUH were used for this study.  In addition to testing predictors of illicit drug use, the model was also tested to see if poverty status, racial minority status, and gender were predictive of perception of risk associated with illicit drug use. 

Results:   For actual illicit drug use, poverty status was predictive of marijuana use.  Gender was predictive of both heroin and marijuana use.  For marijuana use, racial minority status was a significant predictor until poverty was added to the model, indicating potential mediation.  Indirect effects of racial minority status via poverty status were tested using bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals with 1000 resamples of the data; poverty status mediated the relationship between racial minority status and marijuana use.   

For perceived risk of use, poverty status was predictive of lower perceived risk of marijuana use, and gender was predictive of lower perceived risk of marijuana and heroin use.  Additionally, racial minority status was predictive of decreased perceived risk associated with regular (once or twice a week) marijuana use but not occasional (once a month) use.

Conclusions and Implications:  This study is unique because it examined social disadvantage as a predictor of illicit substance use and lower perception of risk associated with drug use in a nationally representative sample of transitional aged youth.  Poverty status and gender were predictive of illicit substance use and perception of decreased risk in this sample.  Additionally, although racial minority status was a significant predictor of substance use and decreased perception of risk, this relationship was mediated by poverty status.  Although prevention efforts should be targeted towards all transitional aged youth, these findings inform prevention specialists which populations might need specifically targeted.  Limitations of the study and implications for policy and research will also be discussed in this presentation.