Exploring the Intersection of Neighborhood Racial and Economic Composition and Individual Race on Substance Use Among Male Adolescents

• NCJ Number: 239054
• Journal: Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: January - March 2012 Pages: 52-74
• Author(s): Courtney Cronley; Helene R. White; Eun-Young Mun; Chioun Lee; Andrea Finlay; Rolf Loeber
• Date Published: March 2012
• Length: 23 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01AA016798; R01AA019511; R01DA411018; P30MH079920; R01MH73941; R01MH50778; 96-MU-FX-0012; 2005-JK-FX-0001
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health; Ctr's for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Pennsylvania Dept of Health
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study explored racial differences in substance use by testing how individual race intersected with neighborhood racial composition to predict adolescent substance use.

Abstract

This article examines how Blacks and Whites living in neighborhoods with divergent racial and income profiles differed in early onset (by age 14 years) and adolescent lifetime prevalence (by age 18 years) of substance use, with longitudinal data from 473 high-risk boys (58 percent Black). A latent profile analysis identified four neighborhood classes: Black, lower-income; racially mixed, middle-income; White, middle-income; and White, upper-income. Bivariate analyses showed that Blacks living in racially mixed, middle-income neighborhoods reported the lowest rates of tobacco and marijuana use. Whites living in White, upper-income neighborhoods reported higher substance use prevalence, particularly marijuana. Findings suggest that substance use prevention efforts are critical for Whites in upper-income communities. (Published Abstract)