Binge Drinking in African American Males From Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Protective Influence of Religiosity, Family Connectedness, and Close Friends’ Substance Use

Abstract

We examined the contribution of culturally relevant protective factors (i.e., adolescent religiosity, family connectedness, and perceived close friends’ substance use) to the probability of young adult binge drinking among African American males. Participants (n = 1,599) drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were high school age adolescents (14–18 years, M = 16) at Wave 1 and young adults (18–26, M = 22) at Wave 3. Adolescent binge drinking was associated with all three protective factors. Perceived close friends’ substance use in adolescence was a protective factor in later binge drinking during young adulthood, and was moderated by age such that the effect was stronger for younger adolescents. Implications for culturally relevant research and prevention are discussed.

RÉSUMÉ

Binge Boire en hommes noire américaines De Adolescence pour jeunes issues: l’influence protection de religiosité, famille Connexité et substance use des amis gros

Nous avons examiné les contribution des facteurs de protection culturellement pertinentes (c’est-à-dire, adolescentes religiosité, famille connexité, perçu fermer substance use amis) pour la probabilité de jeune binge adulte boire chez les hommes noire américaines. Les participants (n = 1599) tirée de l’étude longitudinale nationale de Santé des adolescent étaient lycée âge adolescents (14–18 ans, M = 16) à 1 de vagues et de jeunes adultes (18–26, M = 22) à 3 Wave. Binge adolescent boire a été associé à tous les trois facteurs de protection. Perçu près substance use amis dans adolescence était un facteur de protection dans binge ultérieure boire durant l’âge adulte jeune et a été modérée par âge tels que l’effet était plus forte pour les plus jeunes adolescents. Implications pour culturellement pertinentes recherche et de la prévention sont abordés.

Mots-clés : Afrique American, mâle, adolescents, jeunes issues, Binge Drinking, religiosité, Connectivité de famille de pairs, fermeture d’amitiés,

RESUMEN

Borrachera Beber en hombres afroamericanos De Adolescencia to adulthood joven: The Influence protección de religiosidad, familia Conectividad y uso de sustancias de cerrar Friends’

Examinamos el contribución de los factores de protección culturalmente pertinentes (es decir, adolescentes religiosidad, conexión familiar, percibe cerrar el uso de sustancias de amigos) a la probabilidad de borrachera de adulto jóvenes beber entre los hombres afroamericanos. Los participantes (n = 1599) procedentes del estudio nacional longitudinal de Salud de adolescente eran adolescentes de edad de escuela secundaria (14–18 años, M = 16) en Wave 1 y los adultos jóvenes (18–26, M = 22) en Wave 3. Borrachera adolescente beber se asoció con todos los factores de protección tres. Percibido cerca uso de la sustancia de amigos en la adolescencia fue un factor protector en borrachera posterior el consumo durante la edad adulta y fue moderado por edad tal que el efecto era más fuerte para los adolescentes más jóvenes. Implicaciones para culturalmente pertinentes se examinan la investigación y prevención.

Palabras clave: africano América, Male, adolescentes, jóvenes Adulthood, Binge Drinking, religiosidad, Compañeros, Friendships Close, familia Connectedness

Keywords :

• African American
• male
• adolescents
• young adulthood
• binge drinking
• religiosity
• peers
• close friendships
• family connectedness

THE AUTHORS

Dr. Danelle Stevens-Watkins is an Assistant Professor in the School of Professional Psychology at Spalding University and a Licensed Psychologist in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She earned her M.A. in clinical psychology from Spalding University (2004) and her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2008. She is currently a member of the research group at the Center for Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR) affiliated with the University of Kentucky. She is investigating health disparities among African American women across the criminal justice system. Her research interests are African American health behavior, substance abuse, and ethnic minority health disparities.

Dr. Sharon Scales Rostosky is Professor in the Department of Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky and a Licensed Psychologist in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She earned her M.S. in community counseling from Georgia State University (1992) and her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Tennessee in 1998. Her research program addresses psychosocial stress and resiliency at the intersection of gender and sexuality. Her specific interests include the role of religion and religious practice in substance use and substance abuse prevention, particularly in sexual minority adolescents and young adults. She is the cofounder of Psychosocial Research Initiative on Sexual Minorities (PRISM): www.prismresearch.org).

Notes

1 The reader is asked to consider that concepts and processes such as “risk” and “protective” are often noted in the literature, without adequately noting and understanding their dimensions (linear or nonlinear), their “demands,” the critical necessary conditions that are necessary for either of them to operate (begin, continue, become anchored and integrate, change as de facto realities change, cease, etc.) or not to, and whether their underpinnings are theory-driven, empirically based, individual and/or systemic stake holder-bound, historically bound, based upon “principles of faith,” or what. This is necessary to clarify if the terms are not to remain as yet additional shibboleths in a field of many stereotypes. Editor's note.

2 The journal's style utilizes the category substance abuse as a diagnostic category. Substances are used or misused; living organisms are and can be abused. Editor's note.

3 While investigating binge drinking during young adulthood (Wave 3), we observed a large amount of missing data and found that approximately 860 respondents did not answer the question asking about binge drinking. We examined demographics (age, partner status, employment status, and educational attainment) using a logistic regression among the sample of the respondents who did not answer the questions. Results indicated that the only significant predictor was educational attainment (B = −.12, p < .01, with Exp (B) = .88). These findings suggest that young African American males with lower SES, as measured by educational attainment, were significantly less likely to answer the binge drinking questions. These findings are consistent with several prior studies indicating underreporting of substance use among African American samples (Dillon, Turner, Robbins, and Szapocznik, 2005; Fendrich and Johnson, 2005).

4 This study uses data from the Add Health project, a program designed by J. Richard Udry, Ph.D. (principal investigator), and Peter Bearman, Ph.D., and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Persons interested in obtaining data files from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, NC 27516–2524 (http://222.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). Data collection for Wave III was conducted by the Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC.