Substance abuse in the USA among teenagers is pervasive, especially among Hispanics, whites, Native Americans and those of multiple ethnicity/race – these specific groups are affected disproportionately by substance abuse disorders, researchers from Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. reported in Archives of General Psychiatry.

Substance abuse refers to the excessive use of a substance, which in most cases involves alcohol or a drug. Substance abuse has no universally accepted definition.

The authors wrote as background information: “Adolescence marks the period of life with the highest risk for initiating substance use; thus, adolescents constitute a high-risk group requiring research to guide prevention efforts and health policy making […] While eliminating racial/ethnic disparities in health problems and their treatment is a mission of the National Institutes of Health, few data about substance-related disorders exist for young groups of nonwhite race/ethnicity.”

Li-Tzy Wu, Sc.D. and team set out to determine what racial and ethical variations there are among adolescents with substance use over the past year or substance abuse disorders. They explained that teenage non-white Americans are the fastest growing population in the USA.

They gathered data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2005 to 2008) and looked at questionnaires which had been given to 72,561 individuals aged from 12 to 17 years. They used the DSM-IV to measure substance-related disorders. DSM-IV is the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is issued by the American Psychiatric Association.

The authors found that:

  • 27,705 (37%) of those surveyed said they had a past-year drug or alcohol use
  • 32% reported any alcohol
  • 19% reported any illegal or nonmedical drugs
  • 15% said they had used both alcohol and drugs
  • 7.9% met the criteria of a substance-related disorder
  • 47.5% of Native Americans reported alcohol use, the highest rate
  • 15% of Native Americans met the criteria for a substance-related disorder, the highest rate
  • 13% of all those surveyed said they had used marijuana
  • 7% said they had used analgesic opioids. The analgesic opioid use rate was higher than other drug use, except for marijuana
  • 20.5% of Native Americans, 18.1% of multiple race/ethnicity, and 16.2% of white race/ethnicity reported using alcohol and drugs (both). These groups had the highest rates
  • Within the 27,705 who had used alcohol or a drug over the past year, the following rates were found within ethnic/racial groups: 31.5% of Native Americans, 25.2% of multiple race/ethnicity, 22.9% of white race/ethnicity, and 21% of Hispanics. These groups had the highest rates.

After taking into account several factors which might affect the statistics, the authors found that the chances of having a substance-related disorder was higher among Native Americans, those of multiple race-ethnicity, white race/ethnicity, and Hispanics compared with African Americans (all adolescents). The rates for African Americans were similar to those of Pacific Islanders and Asians.

The researchers concluded:

“Substance use is widespread among adolescents of Native American, white, Hispanic, and multiple race/ethnicity.

Taken together, these findings call for efforts to identify and expand prevention measures that are culturally effective and address the quality and acceptability of treatment for adolescents with substance use problems.”

Written by Christian Nordqvist