title: Racial identity, parental support, and alcohol use in a sample of academically at-risk African American high school students.
abstract: This study examined racial identity and parental support as predictors of alcohol use in a sample of 488 African American adolescents. Two dimensions of racial identity were investigated: (1) racial centrality (i.e., the significance that one places on race in defining oneself) and (2) private regard (i.e., the extent to which one feels positively about Black people). In addition, perceived support from mothers and fathers was examined. Multivariate results showed that private regard and father support were associated with less self-reported alcohol use after partialling out the effects of age and gender. An interaction between the two racial identity dimensions was also found such that private regard was associated with less alcohol use for adolescents who reported that race was a more central part of their identity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029, USA. cleoc@umich.edu
authors.forename: Cleopatra Howard
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Caldwell
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Sellers
authors.forename: Debra Hilkene
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Bernat
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003710:Demography; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012574:Schools; D012933:Social Identification; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014477:Underachievement