Racial Discrimination and Trajectories of Problematic Alcohol Use Among African American Emerging Adults: The Role of Organizational Religious Involvement

Introduction: Racial discrimination (RD) jeopardizes a wide range of health behaviors for African-Americans. Many scholars demonstrate significant negative associations between RD and problematic alcohol use among older African-Americans. Culturally specific contexts (e.g., organized religious involvement, ORI) for many African-Americans often function protectively against RD’s adverse effects. Yet, the level of ORI may affect the degree to which RD increases problematic alcohol use (PAU), resulting various alcohol use trajectories. These links remain substantially understudied in emerging adulthood, wherein individuals transition from adolescence to early adult roles and responsibilities. We use data from 496 African-American emerging adults from the Flint Adolescent Study to: 1) identify multiple and distinct PAU trajectories and 2) examine ORI’s protective role.

Method: Data were examined at waves 5 (2000-2001; Mage = 20.05), 6 (2001-2002; Mage = 20.98), 7 (2002-2003 Mage = 22.07), and 8 (2003-2004; Mage = 23.06). Measures assessed demographics, general stress, PAU, RD, and ORI. Latent growth models, growth mixture models and multinomial logistic regressions were conducted.

Results: Three PAU trajectory classes were identified: the “high/stable class,” (20.76% of sample; n= 103) characterized by having the highest level of PAU at wave 5 (M_intercept= 2.44) and no change over time; the “moderate/stable class,” (39.52% of sample; n= 196) characterized by moderate levels of PAU at wave 5 (M_intercept= 1.17), but no change over time; the “low/rising class,” (39.72% of the sample; n= 197) characterized by low levels of PAU at wave 5 (M_intercept= 0.31) and a gradual rise over time (M_slope= 0.04). Relative to high/stable class, individuals reporting higher levels of RD tended not to be in the low/rising class(b= -0.65, p= .02). High ORI individuals tended to classify into the low/rising classthan high/stable class. Women tended to classify into the moderate/stablethan the high/stable class. After controlling for sex, educational attainment, and general stress, the interaction between RD and ORI did not influence the likelihood of classifying into the moderate/stable class or the low/rising class, compared to the high/stable class.

Conclusions: ORI counteracts RD’s effects on PAU, emphasizing the critical need for culturally sensitive prevention efforts incorporating ORI for African American emerging adults. Assessing and incorporating culturally specific assets (e.g., ORI) into prevention efforts may lessen the role of RD on health disparities related to alcohol use.