DRUG USE, DELINQUENCY AND MEXICAN-AMERICAN YOUTH

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Half the population of southwestern U.S. will soon be Hispanic. Hispanic youth in low income/high minority residential areas in southwestern cities can have very high rates of drug use, and there can be very high rates of delinquency. There are, however, no data on the links between drug use and delinquency for urban Hispanic youth. This study will use a school- based survey to explore the relationship between drug use and delinquency in a typical large southwestern city. It will examine how rates differ across age groups, and how delinquency and peer drug associations, peer deviance, family relationships, school adjustment, tolerance of deviance, anger, self-esteem, and cultural identification. It will determine whether path analyses differ for Hispanic and minority youth and whether these differences relate to type of residential area. Study of a random sample of arrested youth will determine, by urinalysis, recent drug use of arrested youth. Questionnaires will allow comparison of urinalysis results with self-report, and determine how arrested Hispanic and non- minority youth differ from each other and from non-arrested youth in drug use, delinquency, and the above listed psychosocial characteristics.