Transnational Students on the Mexican Border: Influences of Migration Experiences and Violence on Adolescent Substance Use

Background and Purpose: Dynamic bi-directional flows of migrants along the northern Mexican border and stepped-up deportation have created an influx of transnational adolescents to border towns areas where exposure to violence and drug trafficking and violence is pervasive. This study of youth in a Mexican border city that is a crossroads for international trade and migration, investigated how migration-related experiences in the USA were associated with migrant adolescents’ use of substances after returning to Mexico.

Methods: We report data collected from 7^th grade students in four public middle schools in Nogales, Mexico (n = 1,418). The school populations represented the overall socio-economic profile of the city. Students completed self-administered questionnaires in 2017. We employed logistic regression to evaluate the association between the recent (last 30-day) use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs (dichotomized into use and non-use) and transnational migratory experiences: attending school in the USA, engaging in risk behaviors in the USA (substance use and sexual intercourse), and length of residence in the Mexican border city. Analyses controlled for gender and age as well as protective and risk factors for substance use at the family, school and community levels: family size and financial strain, and having a parent residing in the USA; sense of school belonging; and witnessing and being victimized by violence, and substance use availability in the neighborhood.

Results: Over 10% of students were USA citizens, 2% were native to other countries, 8% had attended school in the USA and 5% engaged in health-related risk behaviors while in the USA. The last 30-day prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drug use was 13.5%, 7.6% and 12.8%, respectively. In bivariate tests, odds ratios indicated that having a transnational experience in the USA, like attending school there as an immigrant or engaging in health-related risk behaviors while there, increased the likelihood of using alcohol and illegal drugs while residing in Nogales. After adjusting for other factors, engaging in health-related risk behaviors in the USA increased the student’s odds of using alcohol by 3.50 (95% CI 1.91-6.38) and of using other drugs by 2.43 (95% CI 1.25-4.73). Length of residence in Nogales, and having a parent in the USA, were unrelated to recent substance use. Perceived accessibility of substances was associated with use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs. Witnessing violence was associated with alcohol and tobacco use, and violence victimization was associated with illegal drug use.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings highlight the vulnerability to substance use of a group of early adolescents who migrated, returned or were deported with their families to a Mexican border city. Students who had extensive enough USA experience to have attended school were at elevated risk of using substances while in Mexico, an experience that is connected to engaging in risky substance use or sexual behaviors while in the USA. With more than 1 in 10 Nogales students having transnational experiences, policies to address youth substance use in Mexico needs to recognize the complex factors influencing risk behaviors of migrant youth.