Risk and Protective Factors for Drug Use among Latino and White Adolescents

Abstract

Several different theories have been suggested to account for drug use among Latinos, however, no one theory adequately explains this behavior. The authors developed a model of drug use that incorporated many potential risk and protective factors and tested both direct and buffering influences on drug involvement. From data on Latino, Latina, and White teenagers, 14 factors related to drug use were selected and assigned empirically to either a multipk protective (PFI) or risk factor (RFI) index. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships of the RFI, PFI, and their interaction on frequency and/or quantity of cigarette, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and hard drug use. Both indexes and their interaction contributed significantly tofrequency and quantity of drug use among all groups.