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Associations between racial and socioeconomic discrimination and risk behaviors among African-American adolescents and young adults: a latent class analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

Discrimination is a common stressor among African Americans and may increase vulnerability to risk behaviors, such as early initiation of substance use, substance use problems, and physical aggression; however, few studies have examined different types of discrimination and their associations with patterns of risk behaviors. This study examines the relationship between experiences of racial and socioeconomic discrimination and risk behaviors in African-American adolescents and young adults.

Methods

We investigated associations of two discrimination types with risk behavior patterns identified with latent class analysis in a high-risk sample of African Americans (N = 797, Mage = 17.9 years, 50.2% female).

Results

Four distinct classes of risk behaviors were characterized by High Use and Aggression (10%), Moderate Use and Aggression (10%), High Alcohol (17%), and Low Use and Aggression (63%). Classes that exhibit general risk behaviors, including substance use and aggression, were significantly associated with racial and socioeconomic discrimination, even in the fully adjusted model. Relative to other classes, the High Use and Aggression class demonstrated an elevated likelihood of experiencing both racial and socioeconomic discrimination.

Conclusions

Findings support a link between racial and socioeconomic discrimination and risk behavior in African-American youth, which may be stronger for socioeconomic discrimination. Understanding the relationship between discrimination and risk behavior can inform future interventions to prevent substance misuse and conduct problems in youth. Further study is needed to elucidate the relationship between discrimination and other risk behaviors.

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Acknowledgements

The support of grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism R01 AA012640 and the National Institute on Drug Abuse T32 DA15035 is acknowledged. This work was also supported by the 2018 Summer Research Program of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis funded by Dr. and Mrs. Mark Stephen Gold, the Institute for Public Health and its Global Health Center, the Children’s Discovery Institute of Washington University and St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Charitable Giving Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Tiffany H. Xie, Manik Ahuja, Vivia V. McCutcheon & Kathleen K. Bucholz

  2. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Tiffany H. Xie

  3. Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, USA

    Manik Ahuja

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  1. Tiffany H. Xie
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  2. Manik Ahuja
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  4. Kathleen K. Bucholz
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Correspondence to Tiffany H. Xie.

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Informed consent was obtained for participation and this study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Ethics Board of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

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Xie, T.H., Ahuja, M., McCutcheon, V.V. et al. Associations between racial and socioeconomic discrimination and risk behaviors among African-American adolescents and young adults: a latent class analysis. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 55, 1479–1489 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01884-y

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