An epidemiological comparison of Mexican-American and white non-Hispanic 8th- and 12th-grade students' substance use.

Surveys of drug and alcohol use were conducted with a national probability sample of 8th- and 12th-grade Mexican-American and White non-Hispanic youth. The drug and alcohol epidemiology is representative of US Mexican-American youth residing in communities with populations of 2500 or more, at least 10% of whom are Mexican Americans. Mexican-American 8th graders reported generally higher rates of use than White non-Hispanics based on life-time prevalence and use in last month. They also reported higher frequency of high-risk drug behaviors. The pattern was reversed among 12th-grade students. The impact of differential school dropout rates is discussed as a probable cause for this reversal.