Patterns and correlates of substance use among young adult African American women

Abstract

Patterns and correlates of substance use among urban African American young women (ages 18–19, n = 459) were examined. Four patterns were identified: no/infrequent alcohol and marijuana use (64.9%); recent alcohol only use (18.2%); recent marijuana only use (7.9%); and recent alcohol and marijuana use (9.0%). Having a recent male sexual partner and a history of sexual coercion were associated with increased odds of marijuana-only and dual use. Greater family support and childhood sexual abuse were associated with increased odds of alcohol-only use. Results suggest that sexual relationships and history of abuse/coercion are important factors in young African American women’s substance use.

Keywords:

• African American
• alcohol use
• illicit drug use
• marijuana use
• young adult

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank our partners at Delgado Community College, Southern University of New Orleans, Dillard University, Xavier University, The Tulane Drop In Clinic, and numerous community venues throughout the city of New Orleans. We also wish to thank our Community Advisory Panel and participants along with the staff and students who helped work on the project. We acknowledge the support of Dr. Gina Wingood and Dr. Ralph DiClemente and their research team. The view expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies of HSS or the Office of Adolescent Health.

Notes

1 In this paper, the term adolescent will refer largely to high school aged youth, or those aged 13–17; young adult will refer to those age 18–25; and youth will refer generally to persons between the ages of 13 and 25.

2 In preliminary analyses we assessed the relationship between paternal education and substance use outcomes, and found no association.

Additional information

Funding

This publication was prepared under Grant Number TP2AH000013 from the Office of Adolescent health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).