Course: Substance Use Among American Indian Youths on Reservations Compared With a National Sample of US Adolescents
CME Credits: 1.00
Released: 2018-05-31
Key Points
Question How do substance use rates among American Indian youths compare with rates among national US adolescents?Findings Lifetime and last-30-day substance use rates and relative risk were significantly higher for nearly all substances among American Indian youths.
Meaning Early prevention and culturally sensitive interventions are needed for this population in addition to careful screening by medical staff for signs of early initiation and substance abuse and dependence.
Abstract
Importance American Indian adolescents attending schools on or near reservations are historically at high risk for substance use.Objective To compare rates of substance use among reservation-based American Indian adolescents vs rates among national US youths.
Design, Setting, and Participants Population-based survey study of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students attending participating schools on or near reservations, stratified by region, during the 2016-2017 school year. Substance use rates were compared with those of a national sample of comparably aged students from the Monitoring the Future study.
Main Outcomes and Measures Lifetime and last-30-day self-reported use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs, using relative risk (RR) ratios with 95% confidence intervals to compare American Indian student rates with Monitoring the Future student rates.
Results Participants included 570 students in eighth grade (49.6% girls; mean age, 13.5 years), 582 in 10th grade (50.0% girls; mean age, 15.4 years), and 508 in 12th grade (53.5% girls; mean age, 17.4 years). American Indian students reported substantially higher lifetime and last-30-day substance use rates compared with the Monitoring the Future students, with greatest disparity at eighth grade: last-30-day substance use RRs for grade 8 were 2.1 (95% CI, 1.4-3.0) for alcohol, 4.2 (95% CI, 3.1-5.8) for marijuana, and 2.4 (95% CI, 1.7-3.3) for other illicit drugs. Compared with 2009 to 2012 data, the RRs between American Indian and Monitoring the Future students for lifetime alcohol and marijuana use did not change substantially from the 2016-2017 school year (alcohol: RR, 1.5 [95% CI, 1.4-1.6] vs RR, 1.3 [95% CI, 1.2-1.4], respectively; marijuana: RR, 2.0 [95% CI, 1.8-2.1] vs RR, 2.1 [95% CI, 1.9-2.3], respectively), but increased substantially for other drugs (RR, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.7-1.9] vs RR, 3.0 [95% CI, 2.9-3.2], respectively).
Conclusions and Relevance Reservation-based American Indian students are at high risk for substance use compared with US youths in general, making prevention efforts critical. Cultural and value-based characteristics unique to American Indian populations may provide beneficial targets for prevention, but there is limited evidence on how cultural factors work to prevent risky behaviors. Without increased attention to these disparities, the costs to American Indian youths and their communities will remain high.
Educational Objective To review how substance use rates among American Indian youths compare with rates among national US adolescents.
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