Perceptions of Peer Alcohol Use Among Ethnically Diverse Adolescents: Effects of a School-Based Alcohol Use Intervention

Because cognitions precede drinking behaviors, adolescent alcohol use interventions commonly target drinking cognitions. Perceptions of peer drinking prevalence are often targeted since these consistently influence teens' current and future drinking behaviors. Little is known about whether school-based interventions have differential effects on these cognitions among ethnically diverse students. The present secondary analyses examined whether a voluntary, school-based, alcohol use intervention led to reduced perceptions of peer drinking prevalence among ethnically diverse youth.

The intervention was implemented at six sociodemographically diverse schools (N = 3907) between 2006 and 2010 and offered six sessions at lunch delivered by interventionists not affiliated with the schools. Participants completed study measures at intake, four and twelve weeks after their first visit. Participants selected for analyses were of African (14%), Asian (15%), Hispanic (26%), and non-Hispanic White (45%) origin. Approximately 15% of participants were immigrant and 50% identified as female.

Hispanic youth reported the highest perceptions of peer drinking prevalence, followed by non-Hispanic White, African/African American and Asian/Asian American students (p <. 001); U.S.-born youth endorsed higher peer drinking levels than immigrant teens (p <. 05). Random effects models accounting for school clustering, gender, grade, and drinker status, determined that peer use norms decreased across assessment points (p < .001) and varied by ethnicity (p < .001) and nativity (p < .001). Among Hispanic teens, participants reported a reduction in drinking norms (p < .001) and there were no differences by nativity. Among teens of African origin, youth reported a decrease in drinking norms (p < .001), U.S.-born youth endorsed higher perceptions of peer use than their immigrant counterparts (p < .001). There was no change in perception of drinking norms among participants of Asian origin. Among White teens, participants decreased their perception of drinking norms (p < .001) and U.S.-born teens endorsed higher norms than immigrant youth (p < .05).

Results indicate that this school-based intervention was successful in reducing perceptions of peer drinking prevalence among youth of African, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White descent but not of those of Asian ancestry. This may be due however, to the low perception of drinking peer prevalence endorsed by Asian/Asian American youth. Findings suggest that the school-based intervention was effective at addressing perceptions of prevalence of peer drinking among ethnically diverse youth and highlights the importance of continuing to examine how intervention efforts address the needs of diverse student bodies.