The direct and indirect effects of family and school-related factors on Latino adolescent substance use

Abstract

Latino adolescents continue to have high usages of alcohol and other harmful substances when compared with other ethnic groups (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 2005; Telzer, Gonzales, & Fuligni, 2014). This study focuses on the direct and indirect effects of family and school-related factors that impact Latino adolescent substance use comparing male and female groups. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationship between maternal monitoring knowledge, the adolescent-teacher relationship, family stress and substance use through academic achievement and school engagement mediators using data from 359 Latino boys and 480 Latina girls from a West Texas area school district. Results indicated that maternal monitoring knowledge was negatively associated with substance use while family stress was positively associated with substance use. Gender differences were found between the influence of maternal monitoring knowledge and academic achievement and among other indirect paths to substance use. Academic achievement completely mediated the relationship between the adolescent-teacher relationship and substance use for both genders while school engagement was also found to be a significant mediator for girls and not boys. Implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• Latino
• adolescent
• substance use