Inhalant Use Among Native American Adolescents: A Comparison of Users and Nonusers at Intemountain Intertribal School

The objective of this study was to investigate a population of identified inhalant users at Intermountain Intertribal School, comparing and contrasting two user groups to a control group of nonusers on a number of selected research variables. The subjects included 42 identified inhalant users. Subjects were further classified into two user groups: one-time users and repeat users, and 20 nonusers. The nonuser group comprised the control group. Each subject was individually interviewed and administered the research and data collection instruments. In addition, other essential information was taken from permanent school records. A one-way analysis of variance was computed to ascertain the relationship between group membership and 11 selected research variables. A discriminant function analysis was computed to determine differences in the 11 research variables as well as to classify and predict group membership. A descriptive analysis of a questionnaire was also reported. Statistically significant differences were found among the three research groups on six of the 11 variables. The discriminant function correctly classified 72% of the subjects, and analysis of the group centroids indicated that the greatest distinctions among the groups were between the nonuser group and the repeat user group. The data present a pattern of inhalant use similar to other populations. The importance of early identification and treatment as well as preventative programs is discussed. Implications of the study and recommendations for further research were made