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Disparities in Young Adolescent Inhalant Use by Rurality, Gender, and Ethnicity

NCJ Number
219723
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 42 Issue: 4 Dated: May 2007 Pages: 643-670
Author(s)
Ruth W. Edwards; Linda Stanley; Barbasra Ann Plested; Beverly S. Marquart; Julie Chen; Pamela Jumper Thurman
Date Published
May 2007
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study examined differences in adolescents' inhalant use according to where they lived (rural or urban area), gender, and ethnicity.
Abstract
Whether or not inhalant use varied according to residence in a rural area depended on ethnicity and the region of the country. No significant differences were found in African-American inhalant use in the Southeast across levels of rurality. On the other hand, some differences in inhalant use across levels of rurality were found for White and Mexican-American seventh-grade and eighth-grade students. Data on lifetime and last-month use of inhalants suggest that urban Mexican-American students used more inhalants than the more rural Mexican-American students. There were strong regional differences in inhalant use by White students across levels of rurality. White students who lived in remote and rural communities in the Southeast were much more likely to have tried inhalants and to have used inhalants in the last month than their peers in urban Southeast communities. On the other hand, no significant differences across levels of rurality were found for White students living in Western communities. Generally, community ethnicity did not moderate the relationship between student’s ethnicity and inhalant use. This study indicates that the gap between male and female use of inhalants is closing, as female use has increased relative to male use. Data were collected from 20,684 Mexican-American and White non-Hispanic seventh-grade and eighth-grade boys and girls from the Western United States and 15,659 African-American and White non-Hispanic seventh-grade and eighth-grade boys and girls from States in the Southeast. Data were collected with in-school surveys from 1996 to 2000. 6 tables, 10 notes, and 39 references

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