Figure 1.

Four pathways that could explain an association between border youth and acute alcohol problems. For simplicity, not all exogenous covariates are shown. If border youth attend bars more often than other groups, higher rates of problems might reflect associated increases in drinking (an indirect pathway involving parameters P1, P2, and P3), and/or effects of bar attendance on problems that cannot be attributed to drinking (an indirect pathway involving parameters P1 and P5). Border youth may also exhibit drinking-related increases in problems even after adjusting for differences in rates of bar attendance (an indirect pathway involving parameters P4 and P3). Finally, border youth may report higher levels of acute problems independently of both bar attendance and drinking (a direct effect captured by parameter P6).