The relationship between depressed affect, parental monitoring, and sex on cannabis use among American Indian youth.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: American Indian (AI) adolescents report higher rates of cannabis use than national US adolescents. Previous study examined interactive relationships between depressed affect and family factors on AI adolescent alcohol use. These factors have not been investigated for cannabis use. We examined whether parental monitoring dampened risk for cannabis use due to depressed affect, and potential moderation by sex. METHODS: We measured cannabis use, depressed affect, parental monitoring, and sex among reservation area AI youth among students in grades 7-12 attending 45 schools. We used censor-inflated regression models to identify parental monitoring as a moderator of the relationship between depressed affect and cannabis use. RESULTS: In the logistic portion of censor-inflated models, level of depressed affect and parental monitoring significantly related to last 30-day cannabis use. Higher levels of parental monitoring at lower levels of depressed affect related to lower likelihood of cannabis use. Female students had greater likelihood of endorsing cannabis use at higher levels of depressed affect. In the linear portion of the censor-inflated regression models, sex and level of parental monitoring significantly related to cannabis use frequency. Male students endorsed more frequent cannabis use while higher levels of parental monitoring related to lower frequency of use. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Parental monitoring may dampen the effect of depressed affect on cannabis use among AI youth on reservations. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Future interventions should foster skill-building prevention efforts directed at coping with depression, along with parental training for effective monitoring. Special attention to AI female adolescents may be indicated.

Alcohol consumption among rural African American and White adolescents: The role of religion, parents, and peers.

Although studies have examined ethnic differences in psychosocial factors and adolescent alcohol use, most have not examined these relationships for rural adolescents. The Community Drug and Alcohol Survey (CDAS) was completed by 23,163 rural adolescents attending African American secondary schools. Multilevel analysis tested the hypothesis of stronger relationships of peer use and religiosity with alcohol use and a weaker relationship for parental permissiveness and alcohol use for White compared to African American adolescents. Results suggested that peer use, religiosity, and parental permissiveness were more strongly associated with changes in alcohol use for White adolescents. Findings provide insight for alcohol prevention among rural adolescents.

Friendship factors and suicidality: common and unique patterns in Mexican American and European American youth.

Research suggests a link between friendships and suicidality among U.S. youth, but this link has not been confirmed across ethnicities. The relationship between friendships and suicidality among Mexican American and European American adolescents was examined in this study. Specifically, the role of friendship problems (i.e., social isolation, poor quality friendships) and problematic friends (i.e., friends who were disconnected from school, delinquent friends) was explored. Participants were 648 community youth. Friends' school disconnection was related to Mexican American girls' suicidal ideation, while friends' delinquency was associated with European American youth suicidal behavior. Friendship factors were no longer associated with suicidality after controlling for suicidality correlates such as depression. These findings indicate that the relationship between friendships and suicidality varies by gender and ethnicity. They also suggest a dominant role of depression.

Friendships and suicidality among Mexican American adolescent girls and boys.

Friendship factors have been implicated in adolescent suicidality, but this relationship has not been verified across ethnicities. This study examined suicidality and friendship problems (i.e., social isolation, poor friendship quality, friends' school disconnection, and friends' delinquency) among Mexican American adolescents, an understudied, vulnerable group in terms of suicidality. Three hundred thirty-eight community adolescents, two-thirds of whom were educationally at-risk, participated in the study. Suicidal ideation and behavior rates were high, particularly among girls. Friends' school disconnectedness increased girls' odds for suicidal ideation by 13%. This association was even greater for girls in good academic standing. Friendship problems were not associated with suicidality in boys. Ethnic identity was a minor factor in suicidal ideation, and only for girls. These findings confirm, among Mexican American adolescents, the role of gender in the relationship between friendship and suicidality.

Effects of perceived parental school support and family communication on delinquent behaviors in latinos and white non-latinos.

The authors examined the roles of perceived parental school support and family communication in the context of delinquent behaviors in Mexican American and White non-Latino adolescents. Family communication was defined as the degree to which adolescents endorsed that they communicated with their parents about a variety of topics. The Parental School Support scale was administered to assess adolescents' perceptions of parental support for academic pursuits. Data analysis included the relationship between these variables and their predictive relationship to delinquency, and the relationship to gender and ethnicity. Results demonstrated that adolescents' perceptions of family communication and parental school support were related to the likelihood of committing delinquent acts. There were no significant differences in gender or ethnicity in perceived levels of family communication and parental school support.

Cigarette smoking and perceived health in school dropouts: a comparison of Mexican American and non-Hispanic white adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relations between educational attainment and health (cigarette smoking and perceived health) in Hispanic adolescents. METHOD: Participants included 3,360 Mexican American and non-Hispanic white adolescents ranging in age from 12 to 21 years. The sample included school dropouts, academically at-risk students, and control students. RESULTS: School dropouts were 6.46 times more likely and academically at-risk students were 2.80 times more likely to smoke heavily than were control students. In addition, school dropouts reported poorer health than did their peers. Results suggest that the relation between educational attainment and perceived health is mediated by cigarette smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Increased awareness of educational attainment as a significant risk factor for smoking in Hispanic adolescents will enable smoking cessation services to be targeted more effectively.