The Effects of Neighborhood Risk, Availability, and Positive Parenting On Drug Use Among Venezuelan Youth: A Mediation Analysis

Introduction

Developmental contexts of youth in Latin American countries are different than U.S. youth, and these variations are important considerations for prevention efforts (Pan American Health Organization, 2009). Studies suggest that proximal risk factors (e.g., drug availability) and protective factors (e.g., positive parenting) present in youth’s developmental contexts may distinctly impact Latin America youth compared to those in the U. S. (e.g., Cox, et al., 2010, 2011; Osorio, et al., 2004). Research also links more distal factors (e.g., neighborhood risk) to youth drug use in the U.S. (e.g., Duncan et al., 2002), but these associations have received little attention outside the U.S. This study assesses whether positive parenting and drug availability mediate the effects of neighborhood risk on past 12-month drug use in a sample of 1,614 Venezuelan youth.

Methods

A path model tested the mediated paths from neighborhood risk (NR) to past 12-month drug use via positive parenting (PP) and drug availability. To clarify how NR effects drug use, past 12-month drug use was modeled as an ordinal count variable with a zero-inflated negative binomial distribution that simultaneously tests both the probability of having used and the extent of use, while controlling for the nested structure of the data. MacKinnon’s asymmetric distribution of products test (MacKinnon, 2008) was used to test the mediation effects.

Results

Model-1 regressed drug use on NR and age to assess direct effects. NR was positively associated with both the probability of having used and with the extent of drug use for users. Model-2 added PP and availability as predictors of drug use. PP significantly predicted a reduction in the probability of having used and the extent of use for users.  Availability significantly increased the extent of use for users, but was not significantly associated with the probability of having used. Mediation tests indicated that PP completely mediated the effects of NR on drug use for both the probability of use and the extent use. Availability mediated the extent of use, but was not a significant mediator of the probability of use. PP also mediated the effects of availability on the extent of use. All models controlled for age, which was associated with the probability and extent of use in the usual direction.

Conclusion

NR influences drug use when parents are more permissive and have poor communication with their child. NR affects the extent of drug use by increasing availability, but this is also buffered by PP. Since a majority of Venezuelan youth live in what could be considered high-risk neighborhoods, working with parents to increase monitoring and communication skills has important implications for drug prevention strategies in this country.