Explaining Race Differences in Adolescent and Young Adult Drug Use: The Role of Racialized Social Systems

• NCJ Number: 175630
• Journal: Drugs & Society Volume: 14 Issue: 1/2 Dated: 1999 Pages: 21-36
• Author(s): J M Wallace M,
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 16 pages
• Grant Number(s): R29DA09106
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines race differences in drug use.

Abstract

Despite a growing literature on race differences in drug use, few studies have offered theoretical explanations for their existence. This paper describes a conceptual framework for understanding race differences in adolescent and young adult drug use. In order for researchers to understand race differences in drug use outcomes, developmental processes, and mean level differences on antecedent influences on drug use, they must understand the ways in which social systems influence individual, interpersonal, and community-level risk and protective mechanisms that are linked to race and that, in turn, are responsible for racial variation in drug use. The paper concludes that the race differences in drug use reflect the nature of racialized social systems and their impact on behavior. Future investigations on race differences in drug use will require that researchers move beyond simplistic single variable explanations toward more comprehensive multilevel conceptual frameworks. References