Who Is Offering and How Often? Gender Differences in Drug Offers Among American Indian Adolescents of the Southwest

Abstract

This exploratory study examines gender differences in the patterns of drug offers among a sample of 71 American Indian middle school students. Participants respond to an inventory of drug-related problem situations specific to the cultural contexts of Southwestern American Indian youth. They are asked to consider the frequency of drug offers from specific groups in their social networks and the difficulty associated with refusing drugs from various offerers. The results indicate that female and male American Indian youth differ in the degree of exposure to drug offers and the degree of perceived difficulty in handling such offers. Even after controlling for differences in age, grade level, socioeconomic status, family structure, and residence on a reservation, girls report significantly more drug offers than boys from friends, cousins, and other peers. Compared to boys, girls also report a significantly higher sense of difficulty in dealing with drug offers from all sources.