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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Sanna Thompson, PhD¹, Kimberly Bender, MSW¹, and David Pollio, PhD². (1) School of Social Work, University of Texas, 1717 West 6th Street, Suite 335, Austin, TX 78703, 5122320604, sannathompson@mail.utexas.edu, (2) Washington University, Campus Box 1196, St Louis, MO 63130-4899

Research suggests by age sixteen half of all adolescents use alcohol regularly and the pervasiveness of substance abuse is higher among youth who engage in high-risk behaviors. Youth that runaway from their parental homes are particularly susceptible to alcohol abuse. It is unclear what risk and protective factors are associated with runaway adolescent's alcohol use; thus, this study assessed alcohol use among a national sample of runaway/homeless youth, identified risk and protective factors associated with lifetime and six month frequency rates of alcohol consumption, and examined factors associated with heavy alcohol use (5+ drinks consecutively) among these youth.

Data were collected from 332 federally-funded youth shelters nationwide (n=11,841). Results indicated that 76.2% of these youth reported ever drinking alcohol. Of those ever drinking alcohol, 83.1% drank at least once, 20% drank more than 30 times, and 46.8% drank more than five drinks consecutively during the six months before shelter admission. Regression analyses indicated that greater number of ‘days on the run', living in numerous residences, school dropout, gang involvement, selling drugs, marijuana use, and physical abuse predicted greater alcohol use during the previous six months (R2=.31). Predictors of consuming five+ drinks consecutively indicated a similar set of predictors (R2=.24).

This study highlights the need to assess alcohol use issues among runaway youths, especially in emergency shelters where these youth seek basic services. Although treatment is not feasible in these agencies, policy decisions must focus on requiring assessment/referral for substance use issues among these youth.

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