Community, Family and Peer Influences on Alcohol, Marijuana, and Illicit Drug Use of Native American Youth: An Analysis of Protective Factors

Using the 2004 Montana State Needs Assessment Prevention Youth Survey data, a cross-sectional sample of 8th, 10th, and 12th grade Montana Native American public school children (n=1611), this study examines hypotheses pertaining to the ability and influence of measures drawn from social bonding, social learning, and social disorganization theories to account for variations in self-reported lifetime and thirty day use of alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drugs of Native American youth residing on and off reservations. The results derived from ordinary least squares regression equations show significant predictability for family, peer, and community variables and the results for the independent sample t-test show significant differences in the influence of the theoretical indicators between the on and off reservation sub-samples. The results suggest there are multiple influences of protective factors on self-reported use of alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drugs and these differ for Native American adolescents who reside on and off reservations. Contributions to the literature along with suggestions for future research are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MIS)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Montana

Year

2008

Author dc:creator

• Rioux, Aislinn R.

• Native American
• Protective Factors
• Substance Use
• Youth

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/221

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-1240