Hawaii Youth Tobacco, Alcohol, and Marijuana Use by Family Structure and BMI

Background/Purpose: Project success is a longitudinal four year study examining the prevalence and impact of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana on Hawai'i youth. Total participants for year one= 985. Results: Results of youth alcohol use indicate that 68% of respondents had chosen “I have never had alcohol in my life” and 19.2% had checked “I had tried alcohol 1-2 times.” Results of smoking rates show that 91.3% responded “I had never smoked cigarettes in my life and 5% responded “ I have tried 1-2 cigarettes. Marijuana rates indicated that 94.1% had response “I have never tried marijuana and 3.4% had tried marijuana 1-2 times. Results indicated a correlation with tobacco use and student body mass index (BMI) p.001 r = 0.110 at 95% CI. Higher smoking rates correlated to higher BMI. Substance use rates were affected by ethnic identity. Students who self-identified as, Asian, White, Filipino, and Native Hawaiian demonstrated higher smoking rates (p 0.011 r= 0.084) and alcohol consumption rates (p =0.02 r= .101). Family structure had an impact on substance use. Students of single parent families demonstrated higher rates of alcohol consumption (p=010 r= .075). Students of blended families (parents and grandparents) showed a strong correlation for alcohol consumption (p=001 r=.093). Conclusion: This population is of specific interest in that Hawai'i is culturally diverse; many mainstream approaches to youth substance use prevention are not applicable to this population. Therefore,interactions found in this study will be a useful tool to enhance preventative measures taken against youth substance use in Hawai'i