School Factors and Alcohol Use: The Moderating Effect of Nativity in a National Sample of Latino Adolescents

ABSTRACTBackground: School is an important developmental context for adolescents and may be related to adolescent alcohol use. Less is known as to whether the relationships between school factors and alcohol use differ between Latino youth born outside of the United States versus those born in the United States. Objective: The aim of this study is to test nativity as a moderator of the relationship between school factors and alcohol use among Latino adolescents. Methods: This study used data from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to test nativity as a moderator of the relationship between school factors and alcohol use in a subsample of Latino adolescents. Results: Results found that during adolescence, nativity moderates the relationship between school connectedness and Wave I alcohol use. For those born outside of the United States, school connectedness was not related to alcohol use. Significant main effects emerged for grades in school and truancy. Bet...