Developmental Trajectories of Alcohol Use Among Monoracial and Biracial Black Adolescents and Adults

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigates developmental trajectories of alcohol use from early adolescence to adulthood by age and race/ethnicity among White, Black, Black-American Indian, Black-Hispanic, and Black-White individuals and associated sociodemograhphic correlates. METHOD: We used a subsample of nationally representative data obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The analytic sample consisted of 15,278 individuals in Wave 1 (ages 11 to 21 years). The sample consists of adolescents who were in Grades 7-12 at wave one and who were followed across four waves of data collection into adulthood. Respondents could report more than one race/ethnicity. RESULTS: We find distinct alcohol trajectories among monoracial and biracial/ethnic Blacks with all groups showing a cross-over or catch-up effect. Black-White adults demonstrated a cross-over effect by surpassing the alcohol drinking rates of Whites in adulthood, Black-American Indians showed a within-group catch-up effect by surpassing the alcohol drinking rates of monoracial and biracial/ethnic Blacks in adulthood, and monoracial Blacks were most likely to be non-drinkers in adulthood. We also show gender, socioeconomic status, and household structure differences in impact on alcohol use among monoracial and biracial/ethnic Blacks. CONCLUSIONS: Significant heterogeneity is observed regarding alcohol trajectories between monoracial and biracial/ethnic Blacks.