Research reveals that Black youth are less likely to use alcohol than White youth. It has been argued that Blacks are more likely to abstain because they have less disposable income, are more religious, and have more family support and/or control than White youth. It has also been suggested that not only are these compositional characteristics different and likely to suppress use rates but also that the effects of these factors vary as well. However, there are no comprehensive empirical investigations of these explanations. This study uses the Add Health Survey to examine alcohol and drug use by race and/or ethnicity and to explore how differences in composition and process might produce differences in use. Results suggest that the socioeconomic contexts of Black and White youth differ considerably. However, differences in alcohol use are almost entirely explained by differences in process, in particular, the influence of peers and the family.
Bachman, J.G., Wallace, J.M., Jr., O'Malley, P.M., Johnston, L.D., Kurth, C.L., & Neighbors, H.W. (1991). Racial/ethnic differences in smoking, drinking, and illicit drug use among America's high-school seniors, 1976-1989. American Journal of Public Health, 81(3), 372-377.
2.
Barnes, G., Farrell, M., & Banerjee, S. (1994). Family influences on alcohol abuse and other problem behaviors among Black and White adolescents in a general population sample . Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4(2), 183-201.
3.
Biafora, F., & Zimmerman, R. (1998). Developmental patterns of African-American adolescent drug use. In W. A. Vega & A. G. Gil (Eds.), Drug use and ethnicity in early adolescence (pp. 1-3). New York: Plenum.
4.
Boyle, J.M., & Brunswick, A.F. (1980). What happened in Harlem? Analysis of a decline in heroin use among a generation unit of urban Black youth. Journal of Drug Issues, 10, 109-130.
5.
Caetano, R. (1997). Prevalence, incidence and stability of drinking problems among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics; 1984-1992. Journal on Studies on Alcohol, 58, 565-572.
6.
Cernkovich, S., & Giordano, P. (1992). School bonding, race, and delinquency, Criminology, 30, 261-291.
7.
Chantala, K., & Tabor, J. (1999). Strategies to perform a design-based analysis using the Add Health data. Unpublished manuscript, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill.
8.
Chasnoff, I.J., Landress, J.J., & Barrett, M.E. (1990). The prevalence of illicit-drug or alcohol use during pregnancy and discrepancies in mandatory reporting in Pinellas County, Florida. New England Journal of Medicine, 322, 1202-1206.
9.
Cheung, Y.W. (1990-1991). Ethnicity and alcohol/drug use revisited: A framework for future research. International Journal of the Addictions, 25, 581-605.
10.
Cruz, J.D. (1988). Booze and blues: Alcohol and Black popular music, 1920-1930. Contemporary Drug Problems, 15(2), 149-186.
11.
Dawson, D.A. (1998). Beyond Black, White and Hispanic: Race, ethnic origin and drinking patterns in the United States. Journal of Substance Abuse, 10(4), 321-339.
12.
Flannery, D.J., Vazsonyi, A.T., & Rowe, D.C. (1996). Caucasian and Hispanic early adolescent substance use: Parenting, personality, and school adjustment. Journal of Early Adolescence, 16(1), 71-89.
13.
French, K., Finkbiner, R., & Duhamel, L. (2002). Patterns of substance use among minority youth and adults in the United States: An overview and synthesis of national survey findings. Fairfax VA: Caliber Associates .
14.
Gil, A.G., Vega, W.A., & Biafora, F. (1998). Temporal influences of family structure and family risk factors on drug use initiation in a multiethnic sample of adolescent boys. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 27(3), 373-393.
15.
Giordano, P., Cernkovich, S., & Demaris, A. (1993). The family and peer relations of Black adolescents . Journal of Marriage and the Family, 55, 277-287.
16.
Goodman, E., & Huang, B. (2002). Socioeconomic status, depressive symptoms, and adolescent substance use. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 156(5), 448-453.
17.
Herd, D. (1989). The epidemiology of drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems among U.S. Blacks. In National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol use among U.S. ethnic minorities (DHHS Publ. No. ADM 89-1435, pp. 51-61). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
18.
Herd, D. (1990). Subgroup differences in drinking patterns among Black and White men: Results from a national survey. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 51, 221-232.
19.
Herd, D. (1994). Predicting drinking problems among Black and White men: Results from a national survey. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 55, 61-71.
20.
Hughes, M., & Demo, D.H. (1989). Self-perceptions of black Americans: Self-esteem and personal efficacy. American Journal of Sociology.95(1), 132-159.
21.
Jaffe, M.L. (1998). Adolescence. New York: John Wiley.
22.
Johnson, M.K. (2004, June). Further evidence on adolescent employment and substance use: Differences by race and ethnicity. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45, 187-197.
23.
Johnson, M.K., O'Malley, P., & Bachman, J.G. (2001). Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975-2000, vol 1 secondary school students (NIH Pub. No. 01-4924) . Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
24.
Kandel, D. (1995). Ethnic differences in drug use. In G. J. Botvin, S. Schinke , & M. A. Orlandi (Eds.), Drug abuse prevention with multiethnic youth (pp. 81-105). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25.
Lillie-Blanton, M., Anthony, J.C., & Schuster, C.R. (1993). Probing the meaning of racial/ethnic group comparisons in crack cocaine smoking. Journal of theAmerican Medical Association, 269, 993-997.
26.
Oliver, M.L., & Shapiro, T.M. (1995). Black wealth/White wealth: A new perspective on racial inequality. New York: Routledge .
27.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (1995). Drug use among racial/ethnic minorities (NIH Publ. No. 95-3888). Rockville, MD: Author.
28.
Neuspiel, D.R. (1996). Racism and perinatal addiction. Ethnicity and Disease, 6, 47-55.
29.
Peterson, P., Hawkins, J., Abbot, R., & Catalano, R. (1994). Disentangling the effects of parental drinking, family management, and parental alcohol norms on current drinking by African-American and European American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescents, 4, 203-227.
30.
Pinderhughes, E. (1982). Afro-American families and the victim system. In M. McGolddrick, J. K. Pierce, & J. Geordano (Eds.), Ethnicity and family therapy (pp. 108-121). New York: Guilford.
31.
Rodney, H.E., Mupier, R., & Crafter, B. (1996). Predictors of alcohol drinking among African-American adolescents: Implications for violence prevention. Journal of Negro Education, 65(4), 434-444.
32.
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1994). Urban poverty and the family context of delinquency: A new look at structure and process in a classic study. Child Development, 65, 523-540.
33.
Steinberg, L., Darling, N., & Fletcher, A. (1995). Authoritative parenting and adolescent adjustment: An ecological journey. In P. Moen, G. Elder Jr., & C. Luscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 423-466). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
34.
Vega, W.A., Zimmerman, R.S., Warheit, G.J., Apospori, E., & Gil, A.G. (1993). Risk factors for early adolescent drug use in four ethnic and racial groups. American Journal of Public Health, 83(2), 185-189.
35.
Wallace, J.M., Jr. (1999a). Explaining race differences in adolescent and young adult drug use: The role of racialized social systems. Drugs and Society, 14(1/2), 21-36.
36.
Wallace, J.M., Jr. (1999b). The social ecology of addiction: Race, risk and resilience. Pediatrics, 103(5 Suppl), S1122-S1127.
37.
Wallace, J.M., & Bachman, J.G. (1991). Explaining racial/ethnic differences in drug use: The impact of background and lifestyle. Social Problems, 38, 333-357.
38.
Wallace, J.M., Bachman, J.G., O'Malley, P., & Johnston, L. (1995). Racial/ethnic differences in adolescent drug use . In G. Botvin, S. Schinke, & M. Orlandi (Eds.), Drug abuse prevention with multiethnic youth (pp. 3-4). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
39.
Watt, T.T. (2004). Race/ethnic differences in alcohol abuse among youth: An examination of risk-taking attitudes as a mediating factor. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 3(3), 33-47.
40.
Williams, D.R., & Collins, C. (1995). U.S. socioeconomic and racial differences in health: Patterns and explanations. Annual Review of Sociology, 21, 349-386.
