Is there an ethnic group of teens that abuses drugs more than the others? Why or why not?

I have always wondered if there was an ethnic group among teens that abused drugs more than the other. You’ve heard that the ages 18-25 year olds are the most likely to abuse drugs, so what about dividing these statistics up into ethnic groups?

New research has just been release from the latest Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS). This is a nationally projectable survey that tracks teen drug and alcohol use and parent attitudes toward substance abuse among teens. The research shows that Hispanic teens are using and abusing drugs at an alarmingly high level when comparing it to teens from other ethnic groups. It also has confirmed that substance abuse among the Latino youth is becoming a normalized behavior.

These next few stats are all within the past year:

·       More than half of Hispanic teens (54 percent) reported having used an illicit drug, versus 45 percent for African-American teens and 43 percent for Caucasian teens.

·       Almost half of Hispanic teens (47 percent) used marijuana, compared to 39 percent for African-American teens and 36 percent for Caucasian teens.

·       One in eight (13 percent) Hispanic teens used Ecstasy, compared to 6 percent for Caucasian teens and 8 percent for African-American teens.

·       One in eight (13 percent) Hispanic teens reported cocaine use, compared to 8 percent for African-American teens and 3 percent for Caucasian teens.

·       Hispanic teens reported they consumed alcohol (62 percent) at a similar rate to Caucasian teens (59 percent) and significantly higher than African-American teens (50 percent).

This data was actually surprising to me. I would have guessed that either Caucasians or African Americans had the highest drug use and abuse problem among teens. Overall, this data was very interesting to read and learn about.

Jennifer L. M.

Reference: http://www.drugfree.org/newsroom/hispanic-teen-drug-use-pats