title: Racial identification, racial composition, and substance use vulnerability among African American adolescents and young adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Two studies examined racial identity (RI) as a protective factor against substance-related cognitions and substance use among Black adolescents and young adults living in high versus low percentage Black social environments.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using structural equation modeling techniques, Study 1 examined longer term effects of RI on substance use cognitions and behaviors among 720 Black adolescents. Study 2 examined the impact of RI and percentage Black peer environment on alcohol use among 203 Black young adults.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Study 1 revealed that RI was prospectively associated with lower levels of perceived friends' use and lower favorability of the substance user prototype and, in turn, lower substance willingness and use, but only among Black adolescents in predominantly White neighborhoods. These adolescents also reported greater access to substances. In Study 2, low RI Black young adults who reported predominantly White peer environments reported the highest levels of alcohol use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings highlight the importance of RI among Black youth and the impact of the social context on the health risk behaviors of adolescents and young adults. This research also demonstrates the utility of social psychological models, such as the prototype-willingness model, to examine mediating and moderating effects of individual differences and contextual factors on health risk cognitions and behavior. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA. mstock@gwu.edu
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.forename: Frederick X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Gibbons
authors.forename: Meg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gerrard
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Houlihan
authors.forename: Chih-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Fred O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Lorenz
authors.forename: Ronald L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Simons
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010379:Peer Group; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult