Drug Use Patterns Among American Indian and Alaskan Native Youth: Special Rural Populations

SUMMARY

American Indian and Alaskan Native communities illustrate the great diversity found among the rural populations of the United States. These communities are marked by cultural, socioeconomic, and historical patterns that differ from other rural groups and that lead to a distinctive set of social problems. When compared to a national sample of youth, American Indian and Alaskan Native youth show exceptionally high levels of drug use. Because they share a number of similar cultural characteristics, it could be hypothesized that the rates of drug use among these Native groups are related to cultural traits. However, non-Native Alaskan youth also have high rates of drug use, indicating that there are factors in the social environment other than culture that account for this behavior. Possible explanatory factors include uncertain economic conditions, family instability, and lack of access to cultural values. Although rural living in itself is not necessarily a contributing factor to drug use, it does place some constraints on intervention efforts. Geographic isolation and lack of adequate health and social service resources make it difficult to develop adequate prevention and treatment services.