Endorsement of the "firewater myth" affects the use of protective behavioral strategies among American Indian and Alaska Native students

Abstract

Belief in an American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) specific biological vulnerability (BV) to alcohol problems (aka the "firewater myth") has been found to be associated with worse alcohol outcomes among AI/AN college students who drink, despite also being associated with greater attempts to reduce drinking. In the current study, we examined the associations of belief in a BV and belief that AI/AN people have more alcohol problems with the use of alcohol protective behavioral strategies (PBS) among AI/AN college students. PBS examined, as measured by the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale-20, included manner of drinking, limiting/stopping drinking, and serious harm reduction strategies. Participants were college students who identified being AI/AN (n = 137) and had drank in the past month, and were selected from a larger multi-site study on PBS. Mediation models revealed that greater belief in a BV and belief that AI/AN people have more alcohol problems were both negatively associated with manner of drinking, which in turn was associated with greater past month alcohol use and alcohol consequences. These beliefs were not significantly associated with other PBS. Consistent with prior research with other student populations, both manner of drinking and limiting/stopping drinking were associated with less alcohol use and all three domains of PBS were directly associated with fewer alcohol consequences. The results suggest that these beliefs regarding AI/AN people and alcohol negatively affect the use of strategies aimed at avoiding drinking behavior that can lead to rapid drinking and a higher blood alcohol content, contributing to alcohol consequences.

Keywords: Alaska Native; Alcohol; American Indian; Protective behavioral strategies; Stereotype.

Figure 1.

Depicts the standardized effects of the Revised Firewater Myth Scale (RFMS) Biological Vulnerability path models predicting alcohol outcomes via Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale-20 subscales. Significant associations are in bold typeface for emphasis and were determined by a 95% bias-corrected unstandardized bootstrapped confidence interval (based on 10,000 bootstrapped samples) that does not contain zero. RFMS=Revised Firewater Myth Scale. The effects of covariates (i.e., gender and age) are not shown for parsimony but are available upon request from the authors.

Figure 2.

Depicts the standardized effects of the Revised Firewater Myth Scale (RFMS) Alcohol Problems path models predicting alcohol outcomes via Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale-20 subscales. Significant associations are in bold typeface for emphasis and were determined by a 95% bias-corrected unstandardized bootstrapped confidence interval (based on 10,000 bootstrapped samples) that does not contain zero. RFMS=Revised Firewater Myth Scale. The effects of covariates (i.e., gender and age) are not shown for parsimony but are available upon request from the authors.