Gender Differences in Preferred Drug Resistance Strategies of Rural Native Hawaiian Youths

Abstract

This study examined the gender differences in preferred strategies used to resist drugs and alcohol for rural Native Hawaiian youth. Seventy-four youth (60% female) within eight different middle/intermediate or high schools participated in 15 different focus groups as part of a pilot/feasibility drug prevention study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Consistent with relational-cultural theory, qualitative findings indicated how female youth participants favored drug resistance strategies that maintained relational connectedness with the drug offerer, and how they considered the long-term relational consequences of different drug resistance strategies. Implications of these findings for indigenous- and gender-specific prevention are discussed.