Peer and sibling substance use: predictors of substance use among adolescents in Mexico El uso de sustancias por pares y hermanos como factor pronóstico del uso de sustancias por adolescentes en México

• Main Authors: William Latimer, Leah J. Floyd, Tarmo Kariis, Gabriela Novotna, Petra Exnerova, Megan O'Brien
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 2004
• Subjects: Substance-related disorders; risk factors; students; adolescent; peer group; sibling relations; Mexico; Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/fd390260b29a4c7197a8c2abde65fea0

OBJECTIVE: To examine the extent to which peer drug use and sibling drug use predict alcohol abuse/dependence disorder status and the use of drugs other than alcohol among school-based youth in Mexico. METHODS: Data were collected on 1 203 middle and high school students in northern Mexico in May 1998. Participation was voluntary, and responses were confidential. Logistic regression analyses estimated the association that peer drug use and that sibling drug use had with alcohol abuse/dependence diagnosis and the lifetime use of drugs other than alcohol. RESULTS: Students who had siblings or peers who used alcohol and other drugs were more likely to meet the standard alcohol abuse/dependence criteria defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), and were more likely to have used drugs other than alcohol. Controlling for potentially important confounders, we found that adolescents with the highest level of peer substance use were eight times as likely to meet alcohol abuse/dependence criteria and four times as likely to use other drugs. Youth who had siblings who used drugs were about twice as likely to meet alcohol abuse/dependence criteria and about 2.5 times as likely to use drugs other than alcohol when compared to youth with no sibling substance use. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with extant findings among youth in the United States of America, peer and sibling substance use are major risk factors for substance use among school-based youth in Mexico. Students in Mexico may benefit from prevention strategies found to be effective among students in the United States. OBJECTIVO: Examinar en qué medida el uso de drogas por los pares y hermanos es factor pronóstico del abuso o la dependencia del alcohol y del uso de drogas distintas del alcohol en escolares mexicanos. MÉTODOS: Se recolectaron datos acerca de 1 203 estudiantes de los últimos años de primaria y de secundaria en el norte de México en mayo de 1998. La participación en el estudio fue voluntaria, y las ...