Predicting drinking problems among black and white men: results from a national survey

This study describes the prevalence of alcohol-related problems and develops predictive models to explain racial differences in subsamples of 494 black and 568 white men from a national probability survey of drinking patterns and problems. The results showed that although black men exhibited higher mean scores on many types of alcohol-related problems, they did not report significantly higher rates of heavier drinking and drunkenness, nor did they score higher on a scale of permissiveness of drinking norms. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that race independently predicts problem scores even when controlling for other social and demographic factors. Moreover, an interactive model showed that race interacts significantly with the frequency of heavier drinking and some sociodemographic characteristics. As the frequency of heavier drinking increases, rates of drinking problems rise faster among black men than white men. Religion and unemployment also had different effects on rates of alcohol-related problems in each group of men. These findings suggest that racial differences in the prevalence of drinking problems might be related to differences in the sociocultural context of drinking and in the material conditions under which black and white men live.