Mexican Family Culture & Substance Use Risk & Resilience

描述(由申请人提供)：这项提案要求对650多个家庭和墨西哥裔儿童的继续学习提供第二个5年的支持。在头5年的支持中，招募了两组家庭和儿童，并从5年级到7年级或8年级进行跟踪调查。在接下来的5年里，我们将继续跟踪这些家庭和儿童度过青春期，因为青春期是接触合法和非法物质的高风险时期。这项研究将解决与酒精、烟草和其他药物(ATOD)使用的启动和升级有关的四个重要问题。首先，调查将检查在美国一个至关重要的种族群体--墨西哥裔儿童--使用ATOD的风险和复原力。居住在加利福尼亚州的墨西哥裔美国人很快将成为该州人口最多的种族群体，这与拉美裔的全国性趋势一致。其次，这项调查将研究从儿童后期到青春期导致ATOD使用开始和升级的发育途径。发展方法通常被认为是通知制定有效干预计划的最佳战略，该计划可以防止在最有可能产生严重长期后果的情况下早期开始使用ATOD。第三，调查将审查家庭对ATOD使用的启动和升级的影响，这也被认为是早期预防的关键。最后，调查将采用最先进的研究方法来研究家庭对ATOD使用发展的影响。假设将来自家庭压力模型，该模型提出文化适应过程、少数民族经历、经济困难以及邻里和学校风险将影响父母、父母和孩子以及兄弟姐妹和同伴关系。这些关系反过来预计将影响ATOD使用的开始和升级，以及相关的调整问题，如危险的性行为，这增加了艾滋病毒/艾滋病和其他性传播疾病的长期风险。这些假说的主要检验将在接下来的5年里到来，届时儿童进入青春期，使用ATOD的风险急剧增加。这项研究下一阶段的一个重要目标将是评估风险因素、保护机制和ATOD使用如何在青春期以动态的方式相互关联。这项研究的结果有望为为重要和未被研究的人群制定更有效和更具文化敏感性的早期预防计划提供信息。 公共卫生相关性：这项研究旨在了解(A)在居住在加利福尼亚州的墨西哥裔青年中增加吸毒风险和其他适应问题的发展途径，以及(B)促进对此类风险的适应能力的社会、文化和个人特征。从该项目中获得的知识将改善旨在提高复原力的干预计划，并防止该人群药物使用的启动和升级。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests a second 5 years of support for a continuing study of over 650 families and children of Mexican origin. During the first 5 years of support, two cohorts of families and children were recruited and followed from 5th through 7th or 8th grades. During the next 5 years, we will continue to follow these families and children as they navigate the adolescent years, a time of high risk for involvement with licit and illicit substances. The research will address four important issues related to the initiation and escalation of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use. First, the investigation will examine risk for and resilience to ATOD use in a critically important ethnic group in the United States, children of Mexican origin. Mexican Americans living in California will soon become the most populous ethnic group in the state, consistent with national trends for Latinos. Second, the investigation will examine developmental pathways leading to the initiation and escalation of ATOD use from late childhood through adolescence. A developmental approach is generally considered the best strategy for informing the creation of effective intervention programs that can prevent the early initiation of ATOD use, when it is most likely to have severe long-term consequences. Third, the investigation will examine family influences on the initiation and escalation of ATOD use, also considered crucial for early prevention. Finally, the investigation will employ state-of-the-art research methods for studying family influences on the development of ATOD use. Hypotheses will be derived from the family stress model, which proposes that acculturation processes, minority experiences, economic hardship, and neighborhood and school risks will affect parent-parent, parent-child, and sibling and peer relationships. These relationships, in turn, are expected to influence the initiation and escalation of ATOD use and related adjustment problems such as risky sexual behaviors, which increase long-term risk for HIV/AIDs and other STDs. The family stress model also proposes that a set of cultural (e.g., respect, familism), personal (e.g., ethnic identity, self-control), and social (e.g., effective family problem solving) resources will promote resilience to the hypothesized risk factors. The major test of these hypotheses will come during the next 5 years when the children enter adolescence and risk for ATOD use increases dramatically. An important goal of this next phase of the research will be to evaluate how risk factors, protective mechanisms, and ATOD use interrelate in a dynamic manner across the adolescent years. Results of the study are expected to inform the development of more effective and culturally sensitive early prevention programs for an important and understudied population. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This research aims to understand (a) the developmental pathways that increase risk for drug use and other adjustment problems in Mexican origin youth living in California and (b) the social, cultural, and personal characteristics that promote resilience to such risks. Knowledge acquired from the project will improve intervention programs intended to promote resilience and prevent the initiation and escalation of drug use in this population.