Asian American Alcohol Drug Abuse

Asian and Pacific/Islanders are individuals who trace their ancestries to Asia or the Pacific Islands. Individuals of Chinese, Japanese, or Filipino ancestry or origin accounted for about 60% of the Asian/Pacific Islander population (see, e.g., Harrison and Bennett, 1995). This report supports previous research in showing that Asian/Pacific Islanders’ prevalences of substance use, alcohol dependence, and need for illicit substance abuse treatment, while clearly high enough to warrant attention, are low relative to those of the total U.S. population. For example, the percentages of Asian/Pacific Islanders aged 12 and older who used cigarettes, alcohol, and any illicit drug in the past year equal about 22%, 53%, and 6.5%, as compared with about 31%, 66%, and 12% in the total U.S. population aged 12 and older (see Tables 4.1- 4.3).

As in the total U.S. population, males have a higher prevalence than females for every substance, but the gender gap is larger among Asian/Pacific Islanders than in the total U.S. population. For example, the percentages of Asian/Pacific Islander males and females using cigarettes in the past year equal about 30% and 14%, respectively, as compared with 34% and 28% among males and females in the total U.S. population (Table 4.1). Given the extensive ethnic diversity of the Asian/Pacific Islander category used here, these data should be interpreted with caution; averages for the overall group may mask significant variations in the prevalence of substance use among subgroups.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, May 2). Prevalence of Substance Use Among Racial and Ethnic Subgroups in the United States  (BKD262, SMA 98-3203)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved October 07, 2002 from the World Wide Web:http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/NHSDA/Ethnic/ethn1006.htm

Statistics
Race/Ethnicity
Rates of current illicit drug use among the major racial/ethnic groups in 2001 were 7.2 percent for whites, 6.4 percent for Hispanics, and 7.4 percent for blacks. The rate was highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (9.9 percent) and persons reporting more than one race (12.6 percent). Asians had the lowest rate (2.8 percent).

Although Asians as a group had the lowest rate of current illicit drug use, there were variations among the Asian subgroups. For persons aged 12 or older, the rates were 1.3 percent for Chinese, 2.2 percent for Asian Indians or Filipinos, 3.0 percent for Vietnamese, 4.5 percent for Japanese, 5.0 percent for Koreans, and 5.1 percent for Pacific Islanders excluding Native Hawaiians (Figure 2.12). To ensure adequate sample sizes for these population subgroups, these estimates are based on combined 2000 and 2001 NHSDA data.

Based on combined 2000 and 2001 data, rates of past month illicit drug use in the Hispanic population aged 12 or older were 9.2 percent for Puerto Ricans, 5.8 percent for Mexicans, 3.7 percent for Cubans, and 3.6 percent for Central or South Americans (Figure 2.12).

Among youths aged 12 to 17, the rate of current illicit drug use was highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (23.0 percent for combined 2000 and 2001 data).Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2002, September 4). Results from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume I. Summary of National Findings (Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-17 ed.)  ( BKD461, SMA 02-3758)Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.