Drug Use Among Hispanic Emerging Adults

描述（由申请人提供）：在西班牙裔青少年中，文化因素，如文化适应、感知歧视和异文化压力是吸毒的危险因素。以往的研究表明，文化适应对药物使用的影响可能是由家庭功能介导的；当青少年比他们的父母更快地适应文化时，父母与孩子的文化适应差异会导致家庭沟通和凝聚力的破裂，家庭冲突的增加，这反过来又会导致青少年吸毒等危险行为。虽然关于家庭文化适应模式在西班牙裔青少年吸毒中的作用有相当多的信息，但我们不知道家庭文化适应模式如何影响青少年过渡到人生的下一个阶段，即刚成年期。新成年期是一个临时阶段，在这个阶段，年轻人尝试成年人的角色，但可能不会牢固地建立在这些角色上，其特点是身份探索、居住不稳定、自我关注、介于青春期和真正成年之间的主观感觉，以及机会的增加。一般来说，顺利度过这一转变的人会有更发达的认同感、成功的人际关系、新的生活角色和最低水平的物质使用。然而，在刚成年期出现的高度独立和低水平的社会约束也使这一时期成为吸毒和其他问题行为的高风险时期。了解青春期的因素如何影响成年早期的吸毒，可以为青少年提供更好的干预措施。需要更多的研究来确定文化因素如何影响西班牙裔人向初成期的转变，并确定在这一关键转变期间药物使用升级的危险因素。本研究计划对一组西班牙裔青少年（2008-2009学年的12年级学生）进行为期4年的随访，以确定他们在过渡到成年期的药物使用轨迹的预测因素。建议研究的具体目的如下：(1)对参与者进行额外的4次年度调查；(2)构建个体生长曲线，描述其对烟草、酒精、大麻和其他药物的使用情况；(3)识别生长曲线参数的预测因子，包括文化因素、同伴因素、高中时期物质使用、心理因素和人口因素；(4)评估新兴成年变量作为这些影响的潜在中介，包括身份探索、实验/可能性、不稳定性（居住流动性、角色转换）、自我关注和介于青春期和成年期之间的主观体验；(5)提出改进健康教育信息的建议，以防止正在适应文化的西班牙裔人在向初成年过渡期间吸毒。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Among Hispanic adolescents, cultural factors such as acculturation, perceived discrimination, and acculturative stress are risk factors for drug use. Previous studies suggest that the effects of acculturation on drug use may be mediated by family functioning; when adolescents acculturate more rapidly than their parents, the parent- child acculturation discrepancy can lead to breakdowns in family communication and cohesion and increases in family conflict, which in turn can lead to risky behaviors such as drug use among the adolescents. Although there is considerable information about the role of family acculturation patterns in drug use among Hispanic adolescents, we do not know how family acculturation patterns affect adolescents as they transition into the next stage of life, emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood, a provisional stage in which young adults try out adult roles but may not become firmly entrenched in them, is characterized by identity exploration, residential instability, self-focus, a subjective feeling of being between adolescence and true adulthood, and increased opportunities. In general, individuals who navigate this transition smoothly emerge with a more developed sense of identity, successful interpersonal relationships, new life roles, and minimal levels of substance use. However, the high level of independence and low level of social constraints that occur during emerging adulthood also make this a high-risk period for drug use and other problem behaviors. Understanding how factors in adolescence affect drug use in early adulthood can lead to better intervention efforts for adolescents. More research is needed to determine how cultural factors influence the transition to emerging adulthood among Hispanics and to identify the risk factors for escalation of drug use during this pivotal transition. This continuation application proposes to follow an established cohort of Hispanic adolescents (12th graders in the 2008-2009 school year) for an additional 4 years to identify the predictors of their drug use trajectories during the transition to emerging adulthood. The Specific Aims of the proposed research are the following: (1) Conduct an additional 4 annual surveys of the participants; (2) Construct individual growth curves to describe their use of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs; (3) Identify the predictors of the growth curve parameters, including cultural factors, peer factors, substance use during high school, psychological factors, and demographic factors; (4) Evaluate emerging adulthood variables as potential mediators of these influences, including identity exploration, experimentation / possibilities, instability (residential mobility, role transitions), self-focus, and subjective experience of being in-between adolescence and adulthood; and (5) Make recommendations for the development of improved health education messages to prevent drug use among acculturating Hispanics during the transition to emerging adulthood.