Marijuana and Alcohol Use During Early Adolescence: Gender Differences Among American Indian/First Nations Youth

• NCJ Number: 226649
• Journal: Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 38 Issue: 4 Dated: Fall 2008 Pages: 1139-1160
• Author(s): Melissa L. Walls
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA13580; MH67281
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the growth of alcohol and marijuana use across early adolescence among a sample of Indigenous youth of the upper Midwest and Canada, with a special examination of the potential gender differences in these patterns.

Abstract

Results show that Indigenous girls in the study sample were reporting either similar or significantly higher rates of alcohol and marijuana use than their male peers. In addition, the growth of alcohol and marijuana use during early adolescence was significantly higher among girls than boys. The analyses also show that within each wave of the study, alcohol use was highly correlated with marijuana use. The United States and Canadian national and multisite estimates of substance use rates found that on average, American Indian/First Nations (known as Indigenous) youths showed higher rates of alcohol and drug use than most other racial/ethnic groups. The specific interest of this study was divergent findings with regards to gender and Indigenous substance use. The study examined gendered patterns of substance use among a sample of 746 Indigenous youth in pre and early adolescence. Tables, figures, and references