Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Evaluating Neighborhood, Social, And Genetic Influences On Precursors Of Alcohol Use Risk Behavior In African American Adolescents, Kimberly S. Compton, Peter Barr, Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe, Cristina Bares, Fazil Aliev, Brian Mustanski, Danielle Dick, Karen G. Chartier

Social Work Publications

Background: Using a socioecological framework, we examined neighborhood and social stressors in concert with genetic risk for alcohol dependence in relation to externalizing behaviors, important precursors to alcohol-related problems.

Methods: We used data from African American adolescents and their caregivers in the Gene, Environment, and Neighborhood Initiative, a subsample of the Mobile Youth and Poverty Study. Participants for the current analyses included 112 adolescents who reported ever having at least one full drink of alcohol. Empirical Bayes scores were used to estimate neighborhood-level violence and transitions. Multivariate models tested main effects and then interactions of family stressors, discrimination, …