Neighborhood Environment and Opportunity to Try Methamphetamine (“Ice”) and Marijuana: Evidence from Guam in the Western Pacific Region of Micronesia

Abstract

Although the American popular press and films might generally lead one to think otherwise, illegal drug use and drug trafficking occur outside the boundaries of disadvantaged American inner-city neighborhoods. Nonetheless, the occurrence of youthful drug involvement may be determined by similar community conditions in many parts of the world. In Spring 1998, a probability sample of 776 high school students living in Guam, Micronesia, completed a self-report anonymous survey, one that assessed their village and metropolitan neighborhood environments as well as drug involvement. On Guam, higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage were associated with youths being more likely to have been offered a chance to try drugs. This study adds new evidence on the potential importance of environmental and psychosocial contexts of neighborhood environment that might help account for the nonrandom distribution of youthful drug involvement.

• Adolescence
• Cannabis
• Methamphetamine
• Environ-ment
• Epidemiology
• Opportunities exposure
• Social capital
• Social stressors
• Neighborhood disadvantage
• “Ice.”

Resumen

A pesar de que la prensa y las películas populares norteamericanas podrian hacer creer to contrario, el use ilegal de drogas y el tráfico de drogas ocurre más allá de las fronteras de los barrios en desventaja del centro de las ciudades norteamericanas. Sin embargo, la ocurrencia de la involucración juvenil con droga puede estar determinada por condiciones comunitarias similares en mochas partes del mundo. En la primavera de 1998, una muestra probabilísitica de 776 estudiantes de preparatoria que vivían en Guam, Micronesia, completó una encuesta anónima de autoreporte que midió características ambientales de sus villas y barrios metropolitanos, así como su involucración en el use de drogas. En Guam, mayores niveles de desventaja en los barrios estuvieron asociados con mayores posibilidades para los jóvenes de que les hayan ofrecido una oportunidad para usar drogas. Este estudio agrega nueva evidencia acerca de la importancia potencial de los contextos ambientales y psicosociales del entorno de los barrios, que puede ayudar a dar cuenta de la distribuición no aleatoria del involucramiento juvenil con las drops.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carla L. Storr

Carla Storr, Sc.D., is an Assistant Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is currently directing a study focusing on etiologic trajectories toward the onset of drug use and dependence to contribute an empirical basis for prevention programs and policies. Other interests include influences of the environment on drug involvement.

Amelia M. Arria

Amelia M. Arria, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director of Research at the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently directing studies in Maryland that are focused on understanding the predictors of drug user treatment outcome. Her other research interests include the patterns of alcohol and other drug abuse, drunk driving, health consequences, effective methods of drug prevention, and the intersection between drug use and violence.

Randall L. Workman

Randall L. Workman, Ph.D., is Professor of Sociology at the University of Guam's Community Resource Development Program, Guam Cooperative Extension, where he has carried out applied research studies for health and social service programs on Guam and in the Pacific Island region since 1978. Over the last decade he has been actively involved with efforts to develop Guam's capacity to conduct, analyze, and apply the national health behavior surveillance systems for adults and youth.

James C. Anthony

Jim (James C.) Anthony, Ph.D., is Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he has been on the faculty since 1978. His principal research interest is drug dependence epidemiology, including the natural history and clinical course from the earliest stages of drug involvement through the most serious forms of drug dependence and related hazards.