title: A comparison of Cambodian-American adolescent substance use behavior to national and local norms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was designed to compare rates of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use in Cambodian-American adolescents with norms from nationally- and regionally-representative peers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Substance use data from 439 10th grade Cambodian-American adolescents in Long Beach, California were compared to grade- and gender-matched nationally representative data from the Monitoring the Future study and data from the California Healthy Kids Survey of students within the same school district.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, the Cambodian-American youth were less likely than nationally- and regionally-representative youth to use alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes. Specifically, relative to estimates obtained for the general population and students attending school in the same school district, Cambodian-American youth were significantly less likely to use alcohol and marijuana. Cambodian-American youth were also less likely than youth in the general population to smoke cigarettes, but did not differ statistically from youth within their same school district.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As a group, Cambodian-American youth may not be at especially high risk for substance use. As is the case with virtually all populations, some individuals within the Cambodian-American group are likely to have more difficulty than others with substance use concerns. Thus, additional research is needed to identify factors that might help to identify high users with potential service needs.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA. Electronic address: eric_pedersen@rand.org.
authors.forename: Eric R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA.
authors.forename: Grant N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA.
authors.forename: Terry L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Schell
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA.
authors.forename: Eunice C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA; University of Connecticut, School of Social Work, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA.
authors.forename: S Megan
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Berthold
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hambarsoomian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002160:Cambodia / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Adolescents; Cambodian-American; Substance use; Youth