Self-reported racial discrimination and substance use in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Adults study (2007)
To examine the relationship between discrimination and substance abuse, Borrell et al. looked at the self-reported data of 1,507 African Americans and 1,813 White Americans who participated in CARDIA, a fifteen-year cohort study.
Reports of discrimination experiences and lifetime substance use were collected at the seventh and/or fifteenth years of the study. The participants were asked about their experiences with discrimination in seven different areas of their lives. Overall, 89 per cent of the African American sample reported some form of discrimination in their lives. Thirty-four per cent reported discrimination in at least three of the seven categories, in both years.
More educated and wealthier African Americans reported more discrimination than poorer and less-educated. The authors suggest that this is caused by the increased exposure to discrimination that African Americans face in societal settings where they are the super-minorities, i.e., there are fewer Blacks in positions of power, such as management, than there are in mid- and entry-level jobs.
African Americans who reported discrimination were also more likely to report alcohol use in the past year, as well as using marijuana and cocaine eleven or more times throughout their lives. African Americans who experienced the most discrimination (i.e., at both data collection points, they reported discrimination in three or more domains), were twice as likely to use or have used tobacco than their counterparts, who reported no discrimination; they were also seven times more likely to have used cocaine (11+ times in their lives).
Borrell et al. adjusted for the common variables, e.g., age, income, education, etc. In addition, they considered measures of social support, control, anger, social network, etc., in their analysis. The researchers also acknowledged the potential bias of self-report data.
Relevance to documentary: The documentary discussion has up to now been about the biochemical reaction (both physical and mental) to the stress of discrimination. But it’s important to consider the negative coping mechanisms used to deal with stress, which mediate (and confound?) the relationship between discrimination and health outcomes.
Link (Google Scholar)