African American Substance Use Research Articles

Substance Use Among African American College Students: Testing the Theory of African American Offending

Background: General criminological theories contend that African Americans’ substance use is due to overexposure to criminological risk factors. However, some scholars suggest that racial injustices (i.e., racial discrimination and criminal justice injustices) and racial socialization practices, which includes religiosity (church involvement), impact African American substance use. Objective: Drawing on Unnever and Gabbidon’s theory of African American offending, which considers racial injustices and racial socialization when explaining African American offending, the current research examined African American college students’ substance use behavior. Methods: African American college students (n = 131) completed an online and anonymous survey measuring substance use, criminal justice injustices, racial discrimination, racial socialization, religiosity, negative emotions, and school bonds. Results: African American college students who reported marijuana use had less confidence in the police and those who engaged in heavy/binge drinking reported more negative emotions and negative encounters with the police. Additionally, negative police encounters and racial socialization practices increased the odds of heavy/binge drinking, whereas religiosity decreased the odds of heavy/binge drinking. Conclusion: These results suggest that a relationship exists among criminal justice injustices, perceived racial bias, racial socialization, religiosity, and African American college students’ substance use. As such, the current research provides partial support for the Theory of African American Offending while demonstrating the need to consider racial experiences when examining African American substance use.

Religious service attendance typologies and African American substance use: a longitudinal study of the protective effects among young adult men and women.

This study sought to identify variation by gender in the associations between religious service attendance from adolescence to young adulthood and seven measures of lifetime and short-term substance use. To conduct this nationally representative study, data from the Add Health Surveys was abstracted from Waves I and IV (N = 3,223) to construct four types of service attendance (non-attenders, attenders only as adolescents, attenders only in young adulthood, and consistent attenders). A series of logistic regressions were conducted to identify the independent effects of each pattern of service attendance on each substance among all black young adults, as well as male and female sub-samples. Analysis revealed consistent attenders were generally less likely to use substances, with the effects being strongest among females. Among young adult only attenders, males recorded lower odds across all three short-term measures whereas females reported lower odds only for monthly cigarette use. The protective effects of religious service attendance are more robust for African Americans who consistently attend in adolescence and young adulthood, especially among females.

The Relationship Between Perceptions of Neighborhood Characteristics and Substance Use Among Urban African American Adolescents

Although the neighborhood microsystem is recognized as an important domain for adolescent development, relative to the family and peer contexts, neighborhood factors have been understudied in relation to adolescent substance abuse. In addition, recent research suggests that risk factors for adolescent substance use may differ for African Americans when compared to Caucasian youth. This study investigated the association between perceived neighborhood disorganization and later substance use, as well as possible mediators of that association, among a community sample of urban African American adolescents. Perceptions of neighborhood disorganization (i.e., violence/safety and drug activity) in grade 7 were associated with increased tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in grade 9. For females, this association was mediated by attitudes about drug use and perceptions of drug harmfulness. Findings highlight the importance of neighborhood contextual variables for African American substance use. Implications and directions for future research are presented.

African American Substance Use

This discussion identifies the prevalence, correlates, and adverse consequences of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) used by African Americans, with a special focus on African American women. Efforts to prevent substance use and abuse and the nature and effectiveness of treatment are also addressed. Several complex issues and limitations that relate to African American AOD prevention and treatment are addressed, including the following: inappropriate research methodologies, the paucity of culturally competent research teams, and the misinformed assumption of homogeneity of the African American population.