Drug Use Among Hispanic Emerging Adults

描述(申请人提供)：在西班牙裔青少年中，文化因素，如文化适应、感知歧视和文化适应压力是吸毒的风险因素。以前的研究表明，文化适应对药物使用的影响可能是通过家庭功能来调节的；当青少年比父母更快地适应文化时，亲子文化适应差异会导致家庭沟通和凝聚力的崩溃，家庭冲突的增加，这反过来又会导致青少年中的危险行为，如吸毒。尽管有大量关于家庭文化适应模式在拉美裔青少年吸毒中的作用的信息，但我们不知道家庭文化适应模式在青少年过渡到人生的下一个阶段--即将成年时会如何影响他们。成人初现阶段是年轻人尝试成人角色的一个临时阶段，但可能不会在其中变得根深蒂固，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，以及机会增加。一般来说，顺利度过这一转变的人会有更成熟的认同感、成功的人际关系、新的生活角色和最低限度的物质使用。然而，成年初期的高度独立性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危时期。了解青春期的因素如何影响成年早期的药物使用，可以为青少年提供更好的干预措施。需要进行更多的研究，以确定文化因素如何影响拉美裔美国人向成年初期的过渡，并确定在这一关键过渡期间毒品使用升级的风险因素。这项延续申请建议对一组既定的西班牙裔青少年(2008-2009学年12年级学生)再跟踪4年，以确定他们在过渡到新成年期间的吸毒轨迹的预测因素。这项研究的具体目标如下：(1)对参与者进行额外的4次年度调查；(2)构建个人成长曲线来描述他们对烟、酒、大麻和其他药物的使用；(3)确定成长曲线参数的预测因素，包括文化因素、同伴因素、高中期间的物质使用情况、心理因素和人口因素；(4)评估新出现的成年变量作为这些影响的潜在中介变量，包括身份探索、实验/可能性、不稳定(居住流动性、角色转换)、自我关注和处于青春期和成年期之间的主观体验；以及(5)为制定改进的健康教育信息提出建议，以防止正在适应文化的拉美裔人在过渡到新的成年期期间使用药物。公共卫生相关性：该应用程序解决了预防和减少年轻人使用物质的公共卫生目标。它还旨在通过确定拉美裔特有的风险和保护因素来减少健康差距。

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. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This application addresses the public health goals of preventing and reducing substance use among young adults. It also aims to reduce health disparities by identifying risk and protective factors that are specific to Hispanics.