Cultural adaptation, substance use harm perception and intent to use drugs among Hispanic high school students

Acculturation, defined as the process by which individuals adapt to cultural environmental change, can be a source of stress among youthful student populations. Results of studies examining the effects of such cultural adaptation on problem outcomes among adolescents (including substance use, delinquency and school related failure) have been equivocal. Some inconsistency in findings may be attributed to the measurement of acculturation, the particular group of subjects studied (ethnicity, gender, age), or the specific outcome of interest. As part of an evaluation of a peer-led prevention program, a sample of 259 male and female freshman students attending an urban high school in New Jersey provided information via self-report questionnaires. Approximately 96% of these students are of Hispanic/Latino background. The purpose of this study was to assess the change in measures from September to June among the students who participated in the weekly outreach program versus those who did not receive the program. The program components were matched to important mediating factors associated with drug abuse and other problem behaviors among adolescents, including decision-making, risk taking behaviors and skill building. We examined the relationships between the levels of acculturation (as measured by language capability, participation in cultural activities and years in the US), alcohol and drug related expectancies, and perceptions of substance use risk with the frequency of or intent to use. We wished to explore the metric characteristics of our selected measures, to examine race and gender differences, and to assess the predictive ability of our dependent measures on outcomes.