A COMPARISON OF CAUSAL FACTORS IN DRUG-USE AMONG MEXICAN-AMERICANS AND NON-HISPANIC WHITES

Objective. There is general agreement that attachment to parents and t o school by adolescents decreases the likelihood of their associating with deviant peers and, subsequently, of their use of illicit drugs. H ere, we test the extent to which these linkages are moderated by ethni city. Method. Data were derived from three waves of an ongoing panel s tudy. Questionnaires were administered to respondents when they were i n the seventh and eighth grades in the 1970s and again when they were young adults in the 1980s. Structural equation models were estimated u sing the EQS program. Results. For non-Hispanic whites, positive schoo l experience but not family warmth had a direct effect in preventing a ssociation with peers who use drugs. Among Mexican Americans, in contr ast, family warmth but not positive school experience deterred the ass ociation with drug-using peers in early adolescence. For both groups, a positive school experience had a direct effect on decrease of young adult drug use. Conclusions. Although stronger parent-child bonds and greater attachment of child to school result in decreased deviance, he re measured by young adult drug use, intervening causal linkages regar ding deviant peers are moderated by ethnicity.