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Coping with racial discrimination: the role of substance use
Meg Gerrard1, Michelle L Stock, Megan E Roberts
1Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Medical School, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA. meg.gerrard@dartmouth.edu
Abstract:
Three studies tested the hypothesis that the relation between perceived racial discrimination and substance use reported in previous research is moderated by use of substances as a coping mechanism. Studies 1 and 2 were experimental studies of African American adolescents' and young adults' reactions to a discrimination experience. Results revealed that those who endorsed substance use-as-coping reported more willingness to use substances after experiencing discrimination. Study 3 was a prospective study of the relation between perceived discrimination and substance use over an 8-year period in African American adolescents. Results demonstrated that discrimination is associated with increases in substance use, but only among adolescents who endorse substance use-as-coping. Together, these three studies provide evidence that experiencing discrimination has both short- and long-term detrimental effects on African Americans' substance use, but significantly more so for those who adopt a pattern of using substances as a coping mechanism.
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