Validity and Reliability of Alcohol and Marijuana Use Susceptibility Among Latino Youth

An abstract of a study by Garcia-Huidobro et al determining the test-retest reliability and validity of measures to identify alcohol and marijuana use susceptibilitv of Latino adolescents. Results showed that participating youth were mostly born in the US, had a mean age of 12 years, and had a similar proportion of boys and girls. Baseline prevalence of alcohol use susceptibility was 18.2% and marijuana use susceptibility 5.7%. 10-month prevalence of alcohol use was 17.4% and marijuana use 3.7%. Kappa coefficients between baseline and 4-month reports were 0.52 (95% Cl: 0.35, 0.70) and 0.81 (95% Cl: 0.61. 1.00) for alcohol and marijuana susceptibility. Youth susceptible to alcohol use had 7.63 (95% Cl: 2,49, 23.3) odds of using alcohol after 10 months compared to non-susceptible youth, and youth susceptible to marijuana had 43.76(95% a: 4.84,395.9) odds of using marijuana after 10 months compared to non-susceptible adolescents.