THE ROLE OF SOCIAL-FACTORS AND INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS IN PROMOTING ALCOHOL-USE AMONG INNER-CITY MINORITY YOUTHS

Objective: During seventh grade, many adolescents initiate alcohol use yet school drop-out rates are still low. Therefore, this is an ideal period of adolescence to examine predictors of alcohol use. The purpos e of this study was to elucidate the etiology of alcohol use among an understudied population: disadvantaged inner-city minority youths. Spe cifically, we attempted to develop as complete a model of predictors o f alcohol use as possible from three domains: background characteristi cs, social influences to drink and individual characteristics. Method: To explore alcohol use of youths who are living in poverty and are me mbers of minority groups, New York City public schools from districts known to have predominantly minority student bodies with low socioecon omic status (SES) were identified. Self-reports of alcohol use and dat a concerning background, social environmental and individual character istics hypothesized to promote drinking alcohol were collected from bl ack and Hispanic seventh graders (N = 757). Results: Logistic regressi on analyses indicated that social influences from friends, peers and p arents predicted alcohol use. Most interestingly, the drinking status of the person the respondent most admired was related to drunkenness a nd future alcohol use. Individual characteristics, such as health-rela ted knowledge concerning alcohol use and antidrinking attitudes, lower ed the odds of drinking. Conclusions: These findings imply that effect ive prevention programs targeting inner-city minority youths should pr ovide students with an awareness of the social influences to drink, pr ovide them with positive role models and correct misperceptions about the prevalence of drinking among friends and peers.