Substance Use Among American Indian Youth: Epidemiology & Etiology

Kathleen ETZ

Sept. 1, 1983 -- July 31, 2025

$150,852

Mark A Prince

RANDALL C SWAIM

Linda Rae Stanley

Colorado State University
Colorado

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

COVID-19 has had disproportionate negative impacts on American Indian (AI) communities for a variety of reasons, including inadequate healthcare, lack of or broken infrastructure, high rates of comorbidity, devastation of economies (e.g., gaming and tourism), and inadequate and disjointed efforts to ameliorate the effects of the virus (Doshi, Jordan, Kelly and Solomon, 2020). AI adolescents have some of the highest substance use rates in the U.S. and findings from other research indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic may be changing substance use rates and patterns. This study would examine COVID-related changes in substance use and relationships between substance use and psychosocial and other variables that may be affected by the pandemic among American Indian adolescents who live on or near reservations. One aim of this project is to provide nationally representative rates and mean levels of COVID-related variables by grade, sex, and ethnicity (AI and non-AI) for COVID-related substance use behavior measures; COVID morbidity and mortality experienced by these adolescents; COVID-specific attitudes and behaviors (e.g., perceived risks of infection); COVID-related protective factors for substance use; and COVID-related risk factors for substance use. In addition, the study will examine models of COVID-19 related risk and protective factors that might influence AI adolescent substance use. These models will be focused on resilience to identify the strengths that result in positive outcomes for these adolescents. School principals will also be surveyed to gather information about their COVID-related responses and resources available to help students cope with the effects from the pandemic. This data will be incorporated into multilevel models. The findings from this research will be published in scientific peer-reviewed journals and will be disseminated widely to Native, public health, school, and policy officials.