Substance use and socio-demographic factors among aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school students in New South Wales

To estimate prevalence rates of substance use and associated socio-demographic factors among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) secondary students.

This paper presents ATSI data from population-based school surveys conducted in 1996, 1992 and 1989 in New South Wales and replicates identical analysis using the three datasets.

The proportion of ATSI students in each survey ranged from 2.5% to 3.8%. After adjusting for age, gender and socio-demographic factors, ATSI students were more likely to smoke cigarettes, and to have tried cannabis and other illicit substances.

This study suggests that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were more susceptible to, and maintained a higher rate of, substance use than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. Socio-demographic differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in age, rural/urban status, living with both parents, reporting poor school performance, low parental supervision and high school absenteeism remained significantly associated with Aboriginal status and substance use.

This is one of the first studies examining substance use in a large and representative sample of in-school ATSI youth. These results provide information useful for public health advocates, and require policy changes more likely to reduce substance use among ATSI youth.