Effects of Psycho-Social Factors on Racial Disparity for Adolescent Drug Use

PURPOSE: Drug and substance use have been an interest to the adolescent population for decades. According to the Center for Diseases Control, about half of 9^th through 12^th grade students reported ever having used marijuana, about 4 in 10 high school students reported having tried cigarettes, and close to 2 in 10 high school seniors reported using prescription drugs without a prescription from a doctor or physician. Statistics reports 86% of teenagers know someone who uses substances during the school day, 50% of teenagers who have misused a drug at least once in their lifetime, and 43% of college students who use illicit drugs. The current study examined drug use rate for the racial disparity on drug use among adolescents and determined whether psycho-social factors have any associations with the racial disparity on drug use. . Study questions addressed were: (1) Is there racial disparity on drug use among adolescents? Do psycho-social factors affect drug use? (2) Is racial disparity on drug use associated with psycho-social factors?

METHODS: Based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data, 9,899 youth (Hispanic=2,045, 20.7%; African-American=3,308, 33.4%; White=4,546, 45.9%) were selected. Among youth (ages 15 – 19), overall, 10.8 percent of youth ages 15 to 19 had ever used a drug (Hispanic = 16.2%, African-American = 4.9%, White = 11.9%). Self-esteem and mastery motivation were included as well as family support and other baseline variables (poverty status, number of children in the household, maternal education, maternal employment status, marital status, maternal vocabulary test scores, and children’s birth year. Several steps of regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS: Compared to White youth, African-American had lower drug use rate and Hispanic youth had higher drug use. Drug use was substantially lower in youth with higher self-esteem and positive psychosocial well-being (mastery motivation). White youth had substantially lower self-esteem and mastery motivation than Hispanic and African American youth. This was more prevalent for White youth in poverty who had higher substance use rate. Surprisingly, the current study did not find the positive impacts of family support on drug abuse among adolescents. This study, however, found that youth who had positive parenting (cognitively and emotionally) had significantly positive psychosocial wellbeing (higher self-esteem and mastery motivation) which in turn reduced drug use. Poverty, gender, number of siblings were also associated with drug use.

IMPLICATIONS: The current study suggests that there exist racial disparities on drug use among adolescents. Racial discrimination should also be addressed in programs about substance abuse because this issue impacts people of color. Youth who have some socio-emotional and behavioral problems may need to be more supervised by having family support in place to assist with these psycho-social weakness the adolescent is having. Supervision from family supports will also help to promote positive self-esteem among youth because it serves as a protective factor. Other individual and family contextual factors should be considered to identify for possible substance use by being aware of all of the individual, family, school, and societal risk factors.