NCJ Number
226010
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: 2009 Pages: 179-194
Date Published
2009
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined the link between community characteristics and alcohol use among 6,636 youth, ages 14-20, in 2004.
Abstract
These findings suggest that the community environment--especially as determined by community socioeconomic status, family structure, and racial composition--is an important factor in explaining variation in alcohol use among adolescents ages 14 to 20 years, even when controlling for individual-level factors. Specifically, living in a community with a higher household median income was associated with an increased risk of current alcohol use (past 30-days). Living in a community with higher employment, greater number of married couples, and a greater number of grandparents as caregivers was protective in preventing current alcohol use. Adolescents from communities with high percentages of White residents were more likely to engage in binge drinking. These findings conflict with past studies, which have found that low socioeconomic status and higher percentage of minorities in the community were associated with increased risks of substance use and other health-risk behaviors. The current study offers the explanation for this contradiction as the result of differences in samples, measurements, and study design. The current findings suggest that communities with high socioeconomic status may have a higher rate of alcohol-using parents, which may influence adolescents’ alcohol use. Suggestions for future research are offered. Individual-level data were collected by using a cross-sectional telephone survey of 14- to 20-year-olds conducted as part of the national evaluation of the Enforcing Underage Drinking Law (EUDL) Program. Dependent variables were drinking in the past 30 days and heavy episodic or “binge” drinking. Independent variables were individual-level characteristics and community-level characteristics. 4 tables and 48 references