TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of Mexican and Mexican American adolescents in treatment for "cheese" heroin use
AU - Walker, Robrina
AU - Maxwell, Jane Carlisle
AU - Adinoff, Bryon
AU - Carmody, Thomas
AU - Coton, Casey E.
AU - Tirado, Carlos F.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U10DA020024 and the National Institutes of Health Office of Health Disparities Research, Protocol CTN-0036-ot. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
PY - 2014/7/1
Y1 - 2014/7/1
N2 - Clinical and cultural characteristics of Hispanic adolescent heroin users are not well described. The current exploratory study was conducted to describe a sample of in-treatment Hispanic adolescents with opioid dependence, specifically, cheese heroin. Mexican and Mexican American adolescents with heroin dependence (N = 72) in three treatment programs were interviewed and completed self-report measures. Participants reported, on average, first using cheese heroin at age 13.5 years and daily use at age 14.2 years. The majority (74%) reported a previous overdose. Adolescents being raised by caregivers other than both biological parents, who used drugs with relatives, and whose immediate family members have documentation to be in the United States fared worse on several indicators of drug use severity and other risky behaviors. The self-reported brief time period from first use to daily use strongly suggests the need for early prevention efforts. Additional research is needed to add to these preliminary results and inform prevention efforts.
AB - Clinical and cultural characteristics of Hispanic adolescent heroin users are not well described. The current exploratory study was conducted to describe a sample of in-treatment Hispanic adolescents with opioid dependence, specifically, cheese heroin. Mexican and Mexican American adolescents with heroin dependence (N = 72) in three treatment programs were interviewed and completed self-report measures. Participants reported, on average, first using cheese heroin at age 13.5 years and daily use at age 14.2 years. The majority (74%) reported a previous overdose. Adolescents being raised by caregivers other than both biological parents, who used drugs with relatives, and whose immediate family members have documentation to be in the United States fared worse on several indicators of drug use severity and other risky behaviors. The self-reported brief time period from first use to daily use strongly suggests the need for early prevention efforts. Additional research is needed to add to these preliminary results and inform prevention efforts.
KW - Hispanic
KW - adolescents
KW - family characteristics
KW - heroin
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U2 - 10.1080/15332640.2014.883582
DO - 10.1080/15332640.2014.883582
M3 - Article
C2 - 25176119
AN - SCOPUS:84906856775
SN - 1533-2640
VL - 13
SP - 258
EP - 272
JO - Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse
JF - Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse
IS - 3
ER -