Patterns of substance use onset among Hispanics in Puerto Rico and the United States.
OBJECTIVE
Examine patterns of progression in substance use among Hispanic youth 13 to 17 years of age from two longitudinally representative studies.


METHODS
Patterns of substance use among youth in Puerto Rico were examined using a longitudinal study (n=663) of adolescents living on the island. The National Longitudinal Study of Youth was used to examine patterns of substance use among Hispanics living in the United States (n=1,445). Latent transition analysis was used to estimate the probability of membership in each stage of substance use and incidence of transitions between different substance use stages over time.


RESULTS
Six stages best described the heterogeneity in substance use among youth in Puerto Rico. Five stages were sufficient to describe patterns of substance use among youth in the United States. Youth living in Puerto Rico reported lower rates of smoking and illicit drug use, but higher rates of alcohol use, when compared with rates among Hispanics in the United States.


CONCLUSIONS
Similar patterns of substance use were identified for Hispanic youth living in the United States and youth living in Puerto Rico.
Maldonado-Molina
Mildred M
MM
University of Florida, College of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, 1329 SW 16th St, Room 5130, Box 100177, Gainesville, FL 32610-0177, USA. mmmm@ufl.edu
Collins
Linda M
LM
Lanza
Stephanie T
ST
Prado
Guillermo
G
Ramírez
Rafael
R
Canino
Glorisa
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011647:Puerto Rico; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D014481:United States