WHY RISE IN LATINO DRUG USE?

Latino Students Pick Up the Bad Habits of Their U.S. Peer Group

Jenny Song's May 11 Observer article, "Study finds rising drug use in
CMS," noted that white students used gateway drugs at higher rates in
past years, but now minority student rates have reached similar levels.

This recent surge in drug use -- driven primarily by minorities,
mostly Latinos -- illustrates why we must better understand how
millions of children in immigrant families in the United States are
adapting to American culture. Until then, strategies designed to
prevent high-risk behaviors, such as alcohol and drug use, will fail.

Acculturation is the complicated process by which individuals of one
culture adopt the language, values, identity and behaviors of another
culture. A growing body of research suggests that the longer Latinos
live in the U.S., the more likely they are to engage in high-risk
behavior. More specifically, studies show that greater, not lower,
levels of acculturation by Latino youth have been associated with
increased rates of smoking, drinking and substance abuse, lower rates
of family formation, and increased rates of dependence on government
assistance programs.

Similarly, a study of alcohol use among Latino youth found that
U.S.-born adolescents had higher levels of alcohol use than
non-U.S.-born youth and that a greater length of time in the United
States was associated with higher levels of drinking. These youth
with higher levels of use are not "new to the community"; they have
already brokered an understanding of the local norms of adolescent behavior.

Another study found that greater youth "Americanism," compared to
their parents, was linked to substance use because the acculturation
gap increased family stress and reduced effective parenting. The
study suggested that intervention efforts targeting the acculturation
process may be less effective than addressing family-related stress
and parenting.

Youth violence has been found to follow many of these same patterns.
A recent study found that third-generation Latinos were at greater
risk of violence than first- and second-generation immigrants.
Furthermore, the study found that immigrant status actually lowered
the potential for violent behavior for all racial/ethnic groups in
the study, except for certain subpopulations of Latino youth, such as
Puerto Rican youth.

This finding highlights that, not surprisingly, even within racial
and ethnic groups, there are important differences that affect
behavior. Populations that appear homogenous may be very different
with regard to language use, religious affiliation, value systems and
country of birth. Fortunately, research also shows that culturally
relevant prevention programming can provide promising venues for
reducing high-risk behaviors. But the United States has a long way to
go in documenting effective practices for at-risk Latino populations.