Gender and ethnic differences in the prevalence of alcohol, cigarette, and illicit drug use over time in a cohort of young Hispanic adolescents in south Florida.

The purpose of this study was to describe patterns of substance use among young Hispanic adolescents of Cuban and Central/South American heritage, many of whom are recent immigrants to the U.S. At present there are very little epidemiologic data on these Hispanic ethnic subgroups, particularly for girls. A cohort of 848 middle school boys and girls in Miami, Florida completed questionnaires in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades concerning their use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. African Americans and White non-Hispanics were used as comparison groups. In general, White non-Hispanics and U.S.-born Hispanics had the highest lifetime and past year prevalence rates of substance use. While no statistically significant gender differences were found for any of the racial/ethnic groups, the use of substances among Hispanic girls often exceeded that of their male counterparts. A progressive increase in use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other illicit drugs was evident over the two and one-half year duration of the study for both gender groups.