Substance Use among Hispanic Adolescents

Substance Use among Hispanic Adolescents

In Brief

Compared with the national average for adolescents aged 12 to 17, Hispanic adolescents had lower rates of past month cigarette use (8.1 vs. 10.2 percent), marijuana use (6.5 vs. 6.9 percent), and nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs (2.9 vs. 3.3 percent) Among Hispanic adolescents, marijuana use increased from 6.1 percent in 2008 to 8.1 percent in 2009, and remained steady at 8.0 percent in 2010; nonmedical use of prescription-type drugs increased from 2.2 percent in 2008 to 3.3 percent in 2009, and remained steady at 3.4 percent in 2010 Among Hispanic adolescents, substance use varied by Hispanic subgroup; past month alcohol use, for example, ranged from 21.6 percent among Spanish adolescents to 13.8 percent among Puerto Rican adolescents Among Hispanic adolescents, those who were born in the United States had higher rates of past month cigarette use, alcohol use, and marijuana use than those who were not born in the United States

The Hispanic population in the United States grew by 15.2 million, or 43 percent, between 2000 and 2010, accounting for more than half of the total growth in the U.S. population in the last decade.¹ This level of growth is expected to continue into the foreseeable future, with particularly large increases projected in the Hispanic adolescent age group.² Furthermore, the Hispanic adolescent population consists of youth of different national origins with diverse cultural norms. As the Hispanic adolescent population continues to grow, it will become increasingly important to monitor substance use and other behavioral health problems among these youth as a whole and also by subgroups. Gaining a better understanding of substance use among Hispanic adolescents can help inform public health policy, build prevention and treatment programs that target the specific needs of these young people, and ultimately expand access to services for individuals who need them.

This report examines substance use among Hispanic adolescents aged 12 to 17. Combined data from the 2004 to 2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs) are used when discussing estimates, while the discussion on trends uses data from the 2002 to 2010 NSDUHs. The report presented here is one in a series of reports intended to describe adolescent substance use within racial and ethnic subpopulations of the United States.

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Substance Use among Hispanic Adolescents