Substance Use, Resistance Skills, Decision Making, and Refusal Efficacy Among Mexican and Mexican American Preadolescents

Abstract

This article examines the relationships among resistance skills, refusal efficacy, decision-making skills, and substance use for a sample of Mexican and Mexican American 5th grade students who were attending public schools in Phoenix, Arizona. An analysis of self-report questionnaire data indicated that the likelihood that male students reported ever having used one or more substances increased as they reported a greater willingness to use passive decision-making (e.g., going along) and decreased as they reported greater refusal efficacy and a greater willingness to utilize active decision making (e.g., thoughtful processing). No significant relationships emerged between the 4 predictors and lifetime substance use among the girls. These findings support the role of social skills in substance use prevention, shed light on an understudied group, and suggest the importance of continuing to examine gender differences in skills-based interventions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant R01 DA 05629.

Notes

¹In general, we use the terms Mexican American and Mexican to denote identity labels used by members of this ethnic group. The term Hispanic is used only when describing studies that do not differentiate subgroup membership.