Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Why Now? Examining Antecedents For Substance Use Initiation Among African American Adolescents., Tamika Zapolski, Tianyi Yu, Gene Brody, Devin Banks, Allen Barton

Psychology Faculty Works

Current adolescent substance use risk models have inadequately predicted use for African Americans, with limited knowledge on differential predictability as a function of developmental period. Among a sample of 500 African American youth (ages 11–21), four risk indices (i.e., social, attitudinal, intrapersonal, and racial discrimination) were examined in the prediction of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette initiation during early (ages 11–13), mid (ages 16–18) and late (ages 19–21) adolescence. Results showed that when developmental periods were combined, racial discrimination was the only index that predicted initiation for all three substances. However, when risk models were stratified based on developmental period, variation …