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May 6, 2009
by NCCD/SAYFA

Brief Summary of Data in Relation to Asian/Pacific Islander (API) youth
Substance Use

  • About one-quarter (25.8%) of API youth report using marijuana at least once in their lifetime, while 30.5% report smoking a cigarette or trying a cigarette or tobacco at least once in their lifetime.
  • More than one-third (37.2%) of API youth report drinking alcohol at least once in their lifetime.
  • In terms of substance use and harm, the data indicates that API youth tend to think frequent use of marijuana is less harmful than frequent cigarette use.
    • For example, 9.2% of API youth report that frequent cigarette use was “harmless” or “mainly harmless,” while 13.7% of API youth report that frequent marijuana use was “harmless” or “mainly harmless.” In particular, 25.5% of Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander youth report that frequent marijuana use falls into these categories.
    • Perceived harm regarding frequent alcohol use tends to fall between perceived harm of cigarette and marijuana use. Among API youth, 11.1% report that frequent alcohol use was “harmless” or “mainly harmless.”
  • Youth were also asked about peer perceptions of substance use, with the question, “How much would your friends disapprove of you trying cigarettes / alcohol / marijuana?”
    • The data indicates that among API youth, Chinese youth constitute the largest proportion of youth who feel that their friends would disapprove “a lot” of them using any of these substances.
    • The smallest proportion of API youth who report that their friends would disapprove “a lot” of them using cigarettes is Cambodian youth (37.5%), of them using alcohol is Japanese youth (35.7%), and of them using marijuana is Laotian youth (47.0%).
  • Southeast Asian youth are among API youth who report high percentages of substance use at schools in the past 30 days. For example, Cambodian youth report the highest percentage of cigarette use (27.8%) at schools in the past 30 days, followed by Laotian youth (17.2%). In addition, Cambodian and Laotian youth both have the second highest percentage of alcohol use (27.8%), after Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander youth, during the same time period.

Gang Membership

  • Approximately 1 in 10 API youth (9.5%) report being a gang member. The largest percentage of API youth reporting gang membership is Cambodian youth, at 35.3%.

Physical Abuse/Fights/Weapons

  • Almost 37% of API youth report being pushed, slapped, hit on at school in the past 12 months.
  • About 26% of API youth report fear of being beaten up at school in the past 12 months, while about 26% of API youth also report being in a physical fight at school in the past 12 months. Of these, 33.3% of Laotian youth report fear of being beaten up, and 52.9% of Cambodian youth report being in a fight (which constitute the largest percentages for both variables).
  • About 1 in 10 (9.9%) of API youth report carrying a gun to school in the last 12 months, while 15.3% of
  • API youth report carrying another weapon (not a gun) to school during the same time frame.
  • About 12% of API youth report being threatened or injured by a weapon at school in the past 12 months.
  • Cambodian youth had the highest reported percent of being threatened or injured by a weapon at school in the past 12 months at 37.5%; Cambodian youth also had the highest reported percent of carrying a weapon (other than a gun) to school in the past 12 months, at 41.2%.

 

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