NCJ Number
128832
Date Published
1989
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Although in the last decade there has been an increase in the amount of research on substance abuse among Latino adults, there has been no parallel expansion of information relating to Latino youth. However, the existing evidence does indicate that this population is at high risk of developing problems with several substances.
Abstract
Epidemiological information is often limited by several significant problems of interpretation including aggregation of all Latino subgroups, lack of data reporting by gender, and unreliable sample strategies. There are some data on use prevalence and patterns of alcohol, cocaine, heroin, inhalants, and marijuana within the adolescent Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban-American populations. In addition to recognizing the influences common to all adolescents including peer support, family modeling, and familial relationships, more understanding is needed of how these influences are affected by the cultural and structural background of Latino youths. Prevention programs for Latinos need to be tailored to the community's unique circumstances by focusing on many substances, being gender-specific, countering peer influences, helping Latino youth deal with everyday stressors, encouraging bicultural competence and family integrity, and involving other family members. 140 references