Decreasing trends in alcohol use among African American youth: 2006–2019, USA

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Although African American individuals are less likely to report alcohol use, compared to other ethnic groups, African Americans experience greater risk for health problems and negative consequences due to substance use initiation. A greater exploration into trends of use may influence harm reduction efforts. The present study sought to assess trends in past month alcohol use among a large sample of African American youth.

Methods

Pooled data from the 2006–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health were utilized among 30,576 youth ages 12–17-years old. Weighted trends analyses were conducted to determine differences on past month alcohol use.

Results

There was a significant linear decrease in alcohol use among African American youth, such that as each year passed, the odds of alcohol use declined, aOR: 0.94, p <.0001. Marginal predicted probabilities revealed that African American girls had the highest odds of use, while 16–17-18-year-olds had the highest odds of past month drinking.

Conclusions

Findings from the present study may inform health initiatives.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• drinking (drinkers)
• teenagers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.