Examining Conceptual Models for Understanding Drug Use Behavior Among American Indian Youth

Abstract

The present study examined two promising theoretical models to address adolescent substance use in an American Indian boarding school sample: (a) Life Stress-Social Support and (b) Peer Cluster Theory. Structural equation modeling goodness-of-fit indices demonstrated that both models were of equal quality in accounting for the patterns among factors hypothesized to relate to substance use.

Key Words:

• Drug use
• American Indian
• Boarding school
• Life stress
• Social support
• Peers