Underage Alcohol Use by Intersectional Identity Among Alternative High School Students

To examine alcohol use (AU) among intersectional subgroups within a longitudinal cohort of predominantly Hispanic/Latino alternative high school (AHS) students in southern California.

Past month AU was measured over a period of three years among 1,029 students (mean age 17.5 years, 49.7% female, 76.1% Hispanic/Latino) from 29 AHSs. Multilevel models that adjusted for age, socioeconomic status, parental education, weekly income, sensation seeking, depression, anxiety, and stress estimated trends in AU over time among intersectional subgroups defined by gender, ethnicity, and generational immigration.

Students with parents born in the United States had high rates of AU at the baseline that remained stable over time. In contrast, first-generation Hispanic/Latino students had lower levels of AU at the baseline that increased over time. First-generation, female, Hispanic/Latino students exhibited one of the lowest probabilities of AU at the baseline (28.6%, confidence interval [CI]: 15.9%-41.3%) but at the two-year follow-up had one of the highest probabilities (47.4%, CI: 29.3%-65.5%). A similar trend was observed among first-generation, male, Hispanic/Latino students whose probability of past month AU rose between the baseline (23.1%, CI: 12.4%-33.8%) and two-year follow-up (36.0%, CI: 19.2%-52.7%).

Findings underscore the heterogeneity of AHS students, showing a more nuanced picture of AU by the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and generational immigration. Underage AU prevention efforts among AHS students must provide targeted messages to intersectional identities.