Substance use and dietary practices among students attending alternative high schools: results from a pilot study

BMC Public Health

Table 2 Multi-substance use among alternative high school students by socio-demographic characteristic in the past 12 months

	Number of Substances Used in the Past 12 Months ^a
Demographic Characteristics	Never Used Any n (%)	Used any one n (%)	Used any two n (%)	Used all three n (%)	P-Value
Total (n = 145)	31 (21%)	33 (23%)	37 (26%)	44 (30%)
Gender
Male (n = 76)	17 (22%)	18 (24%)	15 (20%)	26 (34%)	0.389 ^b
Female (n = 69)	14 (20%)	15 (22%)	22 (32%)	18 (26%)
Race/Ethnicity
White (n = 57)	8 (14%)	10 (18%)	16 (28%)	23 (40%)	0.095 ^b
Black (n = 46)	14 (31%)	12 (26%)	13 (28%)	7 (15%)
Other (n = 42)	9 (22%)	11 (26%)	8 (19%)	14 (33%)
SES
Higher (n = 52)	9 (17%)	8 (15%)	16 (31%)	19 (37%)	0.251 ^b
Lower (n = 91)	20 (22%)	25 (27%)	21 (23%)	25 (28%)
Age (n = 145)
Mean (SD)	16.7 (1.3)	17.1 (1.2)	17.3 (1.1)	17.6 (1.0)	0.032 ^c

^a Substances include cigarette smoking, alcohol, and marijuana use in the last 12 months. 'Never used any' indicate those who never used any of the three substances in the last 12 months; 'Used only one', those that used any one substance; 'Used any two', those that used any two substances; 'Used all three', those that used all three substances in the last 12 months.
^b χ² test of independence of substance use and demographic characteristics.
^c t-test of independence of substance use and student age.

ISSN: 1471-2458