Associations between ethnic-racial identity and alcohol problems among diverse emerging adults

Abstract

Excessive alcohol use and problems during college is a major public health concern, and there are health disparities in patterns of drinking and alcohol-related illnesses based on ethnicity and race. Given the prevalence and disparities in excessive alcohol use and problems and associated negative impacts, it is important to examine potential protective factors such as dimensions of ethnic-racial identity (ERI). Thus, the current study examined how multiple dimensions of ERI were associated with alcohol use and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms, and how these relations varied by individuals’ ethnic-racial group among 1850 diverse emerging adults (M = 18.46, SD = .38). Findings indicated that there were significant differences by race/ethnicity. ERI affirmation was negatively associated with AUD symptoms for Asian individuals and African American individuals, while ERI exploration was positively associated with AUD symptoms among African American individuals. ERI resolution was negatively associated with alcohol use for Latinx individuals and positively associated with alcohol use for Multiracial individuals. Among White individuals, ERI exploration was negatively associated with alcohol use and ERI affirmation was negatively associated with AUD symptoms. Overall, the current study builds on our understanding of nuanced ways in which ethnic-racial identity impacts alcohol problems among emerging adults and highlights areas for future research.

Keywords:

• Ethnic-racial identity
• alcohol problems
• emerging adults

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Spit for Science participants for making this study a success, as well as acknowledge The Spit for Science Working Group: Spit for Science Director: Danielle M. Dick. Registry management: Kimberly Pedersen, Zoe Neale, Nathaniel Thomas. Data cleaning and management: Amy E. Adkins, Nathaniel Thomas, Zoe Neale, Kimberly Pedersen, Thomas Bannard & Seung B. Cho. Data collection: Amy E. Adkins, Peter Barr, Holly Byers, Erin C. Berenz, Erin Caraway, Seung B. Cho, James S. Clifford, Megan Cooke, Elizabeth Do, Alexis C. Edwards, Neeru Goyal, Laura M. Hack, Lisa J. Halberstadt, Sage Hawn, Sally Kuo, Emily Lasko, Jennifer Lend, Mackenzie Lind, Elizabeth Long, Alexandra Martelli, Jacquelyn L. Meyers, Kerry Mitchell, Ashlee Moore, Arden Moscati, Aashir Nasim, Zoe Neale, Jill Opalesky, Cassie Overstreet, A. Christian Pais, Kimberly Pedersen, Tarah Raldiris, Jessica Salvatore, Jeanne Savage, Rebecca Smith, David Sosnowski, Jinni Su, Nathaniel Thomas, Chloe Walker, Marcie Walsh, Teresa Willoughby, Madison Woodroof & Jia Yan.

Disclosure statement

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the NIH or the FDA. Data from this study are available to qualified researchers by emailing [email protected] and via dbGaP (phs001754.v2.p1).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Consistent with recommended terminology (e.g., Homman et al., 2017), we use excessive alcohol use and alcohol use disorder symptoms to refer to each construct independently, and the term alcohol problems to refer to these constructs collectively.

Additional information

Funding

Spit for Science has been supported by Virginia Commonwealth University, P20AA017828, R37AA011408, K02AA018755, P50 AA022537 and K01AA024152 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and UL1RR031990 from the National Center for Research Resources and National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research. This research was also supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54DA036105 and the Center for Tobacco Products of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.