Abstract
Even though racism is pervasive, some people of color may deny experiencing racial discrimination or may report being unaffected by it. This study examines the contexts and factors that may contribute to these responsesamong people who use substances. We conducted seven focus groups (5-9 participants per group, total N = 43) among Black, Latino, and Asian American adults between the ages of 21 to 44years old who reported current use of two or more of the following substances: alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or cannabis. Data were analyzed using reflexivethematic analysis. Across all three ethno-racial groups, we found some respondents minimized or denied personal experiences of racial discrimination or hesitated to identify their experiences as racial discrimination, which in turn led to respondents to express uncertainty about seeing any sort of connection between racial discrimination and substance use. Themes included a minority comparison effect; a drowning out effect; diversity and racial composition of context; passing as White; and covertness of racism. Also, there were contradictions in accounts, and responses oftendepended on orienting cues. While researchers continue tofind associations between racialdiscrimination and substance use, some people of color may not acknowledge this connection. Recommendations include aligning definitions of racism between academic and public/popular discourse; updating measures to keep up with the evolving forms of racism using context-specific examples; combining subjective measures of racial discrimination with objective measures of racism; and dialoguing with the public to raise awareness around how racismis defined.
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