U.S. adolescent alcohol use by race/ethnicity: Consumption and perceived need to reduce/stop use

ABSTRACT

Understanding racial/ethnic drinking patterns and service provision preferences is critical for deciding how best to use limited alcohol prevention, intervention, and treatment resources. We used nationally representative data from 150,727 U.S. high school seniors from 2005 to 2016 to examine differences in a range of alcohol use behaviors and the felt need to reduce or stop alcohol use based on detailed racial/ethnic categories, both before and after controlling for key risk/protective factors. Native students reported particularly high use but corresponding high felt need to reduce/stop use. White and dual-endorsement students reported high use but low felt need to stop/reduce alcohol use.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• alcohol
• binge drinking
• high-intensity drinking
• race/ethnicity

Notes

Federal standards mandate that the U.S. Census use separate questions to collect data on race and Hispanic origin (ethnicity). However, the 2010 Census questionnaire race item included the open-ended category of “some other race”; all responses other than those included in subgroups of White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander were coded as “Some Other Race,” including multiracial, mixed, interracial, or a Hispanic or Latino group (Jones & Bullock, 2012).

Additional information

Funding

Development of this manuscript was supported by research grant R01AA023504 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Data collection was supported by research grant R01DA001411 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study sponsors had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the study sponsors.