Adolescent Substance Abuse and Violence: a Cross-cultural Comparison

Primary Socialization Theory (PST) (Oetting & Donnermeyer, 1998) posits that the peer, family, and school environments interact to influence adolescent drug and alcohol use. The present work is an application of this theory, incorporating the additional component of negative affect (i.e., depression and anxiety) as predictors of adolescent substance use and violence across Native American, Mexican American, and Anglo American males and females living in rural communities. Data from over 65,000 rural adolescents indicates that the peer group is a significant positive predictor of substance use for all groups. Family and school factors do have significant protective effects against substance use, albeit indirectly moderated by peer drug associations. Results also indicate that substance use positively predicts violence for all groups. There also appears to be a high degree of similarity across cultures and gender in terms of how these factors interact. Results from this work are discussed in terms of implications for primary prevention and intervention within rural settings.