PSYCHOSOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF ALCOHOL-USE AMONG MINORITY YOUTH LIVING IN PUBLIC-HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS

Youth residing in low income, inner city, public housing developments might be extremely vulnerable to psychosocial risk factors associated with alcohol use. In this study, we developed and tested a model of al cohol etiology with 624 African-American and Hispanic 7th graders resi ding in public housing developments. The students completed questionna ires concerning their alcohol use, social influences on their drinking , their drinking attitudes and knowledge, their psychosocial skills, a nd demographic and behavioral control information. Logistic regression analyses indicated that social influences from adults, friends, and f amily members predicted alcohol use. Individual psychosocial character istics, e.g., drinking refusal, lowered the odds of drinking. These fi ndings imply that effective prevention approaches targeting minority u rban youths residing in public housing developments should provide the m with an awareness of social influences to drink, correct mispercepti ons concerning the prevalence of drinking, and train them in relevant psychosocial skills.