Substance use among bi/multiracial youth in the United States: Profiles of psychosocial risk and protection.

BACKGROUND

Bi/multiracial youth face higher risk of engaging in substance use than most monoracial youth.

OBJECTIVES

This study contrasts the prevalence of substance use among bi/multiracial youth with that of youth from other racial/ethnic groups, and identifies distinct profiles of bi/multiracial youth by examining their substance use risk.

METHODS

Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (collected between 2002 and 2014), we analyze data for 9,339 bi/multiracial youth ages 12-17 living in the United States. Analyses use multinomial regression and latent class analysis.

RESULTS

With few exceptions, bi/multiracial youth in general report higher levels of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use compared to other youth of color. Bi/multiracial youth also report higher levels of marijuana use compared to non-Hispanic white adolescents. However, latent class modeling also revealed that a majority (54%) of bi/multiracial youth experience high levels of psychosocial protection (i.e., strong antidrug views and elevated parental engagement) and low levels of psychosocial risk (i.e., low peer substance use, school-related problems, and social-environmental risk), and report very low levels of substance use. Substance use was found to be particularly elevated among a minority of bi/multiracial youth (28%) reporting elevated psychosocial risk and low levels of protection. Bi/multiracial youth characterized by both elevated psychosocial risk and elevated psychosocial protection (22%) reported significantly elevated substance use as well.

CONCLUSIONS

While bi/multiracial youth in general exhibit elevated levels of substance use, substantial heterogeneity exists among this rapidly-growing demographic.