Inhalant Use in Latina Early Adolescent Girls

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the current study was to examine how lifetime use and extent of use of inhalants by Latina girls is impacted by age, acculturation, grades, ditching, sexual behaviors (light petting, heavy petting, and going all the way) and sexual agency. A total of 273 females who self-identified as being Latina whose mean age was 13.94 completed a self-report questionnaire. The extent of inhalant use increased as age decreased and acculturation was not a predictor of lifetime or extent of use. Girls reporting poorer grades and more ditching were more likely to have ever tried inhalants and had the highest frequency of inhalant use. In terms of sexual behaviors, heavy petting predicted lifetime use of inhalants while going all the way decreased inhalant use. Higher sexual agency predicted lower rates of ever trying inhalants and extent of inhalant use. Implications for the improvement of intervention programming are discussed.

Keywords:

• adolescence; Latina populations; sexual behaviors; substance use