Drinking by Black and White Women: Results from a National Survey

This paper explores whether differences in rates of abstaining and heavier drinking in black and white women can be attributed primarily to differences in socio-economic or marital status. Data for the analysis are based on personal interviews with national probability samples of 1,224 black and 1,034 white women in the United States. The descriptive findings show that blacks are more likely to be abstainers and less likely to be heavier drinkers than whites and that there are major black-white differences in abstention and heavier drinking according to age, marital status, and employment status. A log-linear analysis indicates that race, independent of other social factors, is the strongest predictor of being a drinker versus an abstainer and of being a heavier drinker. Among whites, being single, employed, and of high income status are significant determinants of drinking versus abstaining; age (youthfulness) is the only variable needed to account for heavier drinking. In the black female sample, youthfulness, employment, and the interaction of employment and income predict drinking; while the interaction between marital status, age, and employment status is necessary to explain heavier drinking. The differences in black-white causal models illustrate the need to adopt a bi-cultural perspective to understand black women's drinking behavior.