Latinx Youth Drug and Alcohol Abuse
We live in a nation where we expect that our youth are given the tools and resources to thrive mentally, physically, and emotionally. Unfortunately, this is and has not been the case for many ethnic minorities specifically in our Latinx communities. As the years continue to progress, we have seen that the Latinx population has experienced growth and with that growth we have also seen an extreme rise in substance abuse among its youth. As adults we often oversee the struggles of our youth because we tend to categorize their struggles and actions as an act of rebellion. While it has become a very prevalent issue in our society today, it has also become one of the most difficult topics to understand and talk about. We never truly realize how bad their conditions are until they are far too in and even then the lack of institutional representation acts as a barrier for their rehabilitation. It is up to us, as adults, to advocate for our Latinx adolescents who continue to struggle with addictions and “fitting in.”
The article What Do We Know About Latino Drug Use? Methodological Evaluation of State Databases recognizes how important of an effect cultural change has on substance abuse within Latinx U.S.-born and foreign-born Latinx youth. There are clear differences in both Latinx subgroups that indicate that lack of representation in institutions can prove to have a negative effect on their health behaviors.
“…Latino drug-use trends is complicated by the following factors; language use, nativity, region of residence, and nationality group. Furthermore, the problem of accurate and consistent ethnic group self-identification complicates this issue.”
It is found that U.S.-born Latinx have higher rates of drug consumption than those of immigrant status. Institutions designed for Latinx rehabilitation are usually trained and designed with the focus on immigrant struggles. Ethnic self-identification plays a huge role in the development of Latinx youth and when they are not represented correctly in society their struggles will continue to reflect through the usage of drugs and alcohol. We must show importance towards the representation of U.S.-born and immigrant Latinx youth inside and outside of institutions so that we can conduct state agency surveys that will provide those institutions with a broader perspective on the different need of Latinx subgroups.
The article also expresses the importance of representing youth in broader terms in state surveys as they are usually always limited to “Latino/a” and “Hispanic.” This means that some students are able to take surveys that require more detailed information such as nationality (Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc) while others are stuck choosing between Hispanic or Latino/a. These types of limitations force assimilation upon our Latinx youth and that alone can cause stress and lack of identity leading to substance abuse. Being limited to only two categories provides a false representation of the Latinx community and provides a limited concept for the real necessities for at risk Latinx youth.
Hence, Latinx youth are at greater risk for substance abuse because their rates of abuse will continue to increase the more they are forced to assimilate to American society.
References
Vega, William A., Andres G. Gil, and Bohdan Kolody. 2002. “What Do We Know About Latino Drug Use? Methodological Evaluation of State Databases.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 24(4): 395–408.
