Ethnic identity commitment, exploration, and alcohol use among students at a historically black college/university

To examine whether ethnic identity commitment and exploration are associated with alcohol use among historically black college and university (HBCU) students; experiential avoidance was examined as a coping-related correlate.

Participants were 230 undergraduates at a large southeastern HBCU; 95.7% were ages 18-24, 74% were women, and 90.4% identified as Black.

Students completed self-report measures of alcohol use, ethnic identity dimensions, experiential avoidance, and demographics. Hierarchical regressions tested direct associations; exploratory bootstrap models tested indirect effects.

Stronger commitment was associated with lower alcohol use, whereas exploration was not significantly associated with alcohol use. Experiential avoidance was not directly associated with alcohol use but was associated with lower commitment and exploration. Exploratory indirect associations between experiential avoidance and alcohol use through commitment and exploration were nonsignificant after correction for multiple testing.

Findings extend prior ethnic identity and alcohol research by examining commitment and exploration separately in an HBCU sample. Commitment may be the more alcohol-relevant ethnic identity dimension, whereas experiential avoidance may be more closely related to identity processes than drinking.