Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among Asian American and Pacific Islander Adolescents in California and Hawaii

As an aggregate group, the lowest rates of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use are often reported for Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), compared to other groups. However, the low rates are often based upon samples with small representations of AAPIs, or represented by only one or two AAPI groups. Consequently, reliable data on the rates of ATOD use among specific AAPI subgroups are severely lacking. Using data from school surveys collected from 9th grade students in California and 10th grade students in Hawaii, we compared the ATOD rates of Whites, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian adolescents. We found considerable variation in ATOD rates among subgroups of AAPIs, variation that was consistent across surveys. Chinese reported the lowest ATOD rates; Whites, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians reported among the highest. We found similar variation in need for alcohol and other drug treatment for these groups. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.