Journal Article

Alcohol Use Trajectories and Problem Drinking Over the Course of Adolescence: A Study of North American Indigenous Youth and Their Caretakers

Cheadle, Jacob E., Whitbeck, Les B.

2011

Overview

This study investigated the links between alcohol use trajectories and problem drinking (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition abuse/dependence) using five waves of data from 727 North American Indigenous adolescents between 10 and 17 years from eight reservations sharing a common language and culture. Growth mixture models linking fundamental causes, social stressors, support, and psychosocial pathways to problem drinking via alcohol use trajectories over the early life course were estimated. Results indicated that 20 percent of the adolescents began drinking at 11 to 12 years of age and that another 20 percent began drinking shortly thereafter. These early drinkers were at greatly elevated risk for problem drinking, as were those who began drinking at age 13. The etiological analysis revealed that stressors (e.g., perceived discrimination) directly and indirectly influenced early and problem alcohol use by decreasing positive school attitudes while increasing feelings of anger and perceived delinquent friendships. Girls were found to be at risk independently of these other factors.

• Publisher: Sage Publications,SAGE Publications,American Sociological Association
• Subject: Adaptation, Psychological / Addictive behaviors / Adolescence / Adolescent / Adolescent girls / Adolescents / Adult and adolescent clinical studies / Adults / Age Factors / Alcohol Abuse / Alcohol consumption / Alcohol drinking / Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology / Alcohol use / Alcoholism / Alcoholism - epidemiology / Alcoholism - psychology / Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning / Alcohols / American Indians / Anger / At Risk Persons / Attitudes / Behavior / Biological and medical sciences / Canada / Canada - epidemiology / Canada Natives / Caregivers - psychology / Caregivers - statistics & numerical data / Caretakers / Child / Child & adolescent psychiatry / Child development / Children & youth / Cultural change / Delinquency / Dependence / Diagnostic and Statistical Manual / Diagnostic systems / Discrimination / Disorders / Drinking / Drinking age / Drinking behavior / Drug abuse / Etiology / Female / Females / Foreign Countries / Friendship / Gender Differences / Girls / Health Behavior in Social Contexts / Health risks / Humans / Indigenous people / Influences / Juvenile delinquency / Language / Life course / Logistic Models / Longitudinal Studies / Male / Medical sciences / Mental Disorders / Modeling / Multivariate Analysis / National Surveys / Native Americans / Native North Americans / North America - epidemiology / Odds Ratio / Parent-Child Relations / Parenting - psychology / Parents / Population Groups - statistics & numerical data / Positive thought / Problem drinking / Psychological Patterns / Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry / Psychometrics / Psychopathology. Psychiatry / Psychosocial factors / Risk / Risk Assessment / School Attitudes / Social behavior / Social Support / Stress / Stress, Psychological / Studies / Teenagers / Toxicology / Trajectories / United States (Midwest) / United States - epidemiology