Explaining Race Differences in Adolescent and Young Adult Drug Use: The Role of Racialized Social Systems

Abstract

SUMMARY Despite a growing literature on race differences in drug use, few studies have offered theoretical explanations for their existence. In light of this limitation, this paper describes a conceptual framework for understanding race differences in adolescent and young adult drug use. The central argument of the paper is that in order for researchers to understand race differences in drug use outcomes, developmental processes, and mean level differences on antecedent influences on drug use, they must understand the ways in which social systems influence individual, interpersonal, and community level risk and protective mechanisms that are linked to race and that, in turn, are responsible for racial variation in drug use.