Trajectories of Racial Discrimination That Predict Problematic Alcohol Use Among African American Emerging Adults

The association between racial discrimination (discrimination) and problematic alcohol use in African American (AA) emerging adults is well-documented. Few researchers, however, have studied the longitudinal relationship between discrimination and problematic alcohol use among AA male and female eme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emerging adulthood (Thousand Oaks, CA) CA), 2018-10, Vol.6 (5), p.347-357
Main Authors: Lee, Daniel B., Heinze, Justin E., Neblett, Enrique W., Caldwell, Cleopatra H., Zimmerman, Marc A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
African Americans
Alcohol use
Classification
Classism
Males
Men
Racial discrimination
Sociodemographics
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Summary:The association between racial discrimination (discrimination) and problematic alcohol use in African American (AA) emerging adults is well-documented. Few researchers, however, have studied the longitudinal relationship between discrimination and problematic alcohol use among AA male and female emerging adults. In a sample of 681 AAs aged 19–25 (51% male), we explored multiple, distinct trajectories of discrimination and sociodemographic predictors of the trajectory classifications. We also examined the relation between discrimination trajectories and problematic alcohol use and the extent to which sex modified these associations. Collectively, the findings revealed that three trajectories—high-stable, low-rising, and low-declining—characterized discrimination experiences for AA emerging adults. Males in the high-stable trajectory class reported more problematic alcohol use than males in other trajectory classes and all females. These findings lay the foundation for future research that examines gender-specific mechanisms in the discrimination–health link.
ISSN:2167-6968
2167-6984
DOI:10.1177/2167696817739022