African-American youth in public housing showing low alcohol and drug use

This study examined the rate of alcohol and drug abuse among male and female adolescents in public housing communities and identified those risk factors leading to alcohol and drug abuse. One hundred twenty-three adolescents were interviewed with the modified children's Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism. Twelve percent fell within the group categorized as alcohol abusers and 15% as drug abusers. No gender difference in alcohol or drug abuse was found to be statistically significant. A logistic regression showed poor academic performance as a risk factor for alcohol abuse to be statistically significant (Wald Statistic = 5.67, p < 0.05) while being in a special group with high achievers was negatively related to alcohol abuse (Wald Statistic = 6.77, p < 0.01). Also, age (Wald Statistic = 4.16, p < 0.0001) and alcohol abuse (Wald Statistic = 20.40, p < 0.0001) were found to be significantly positive predictors of drug abuse, meaning drug abuse increases as alcohol use and age increase.