The Contribution of Africentric Values and Racial Identity to the Prediction of Drug Knowledge, Attitudes, and Use among African American Youth

Abstract

This study investigated the relative contribution of cultural variables, in particular Africentric values and racial identity, to the prediction of drug use, drug knowledge, and drug attitudes in conjunction with individual, peer, and family domain variables. Data collected from 195 African American youth were used in this study. The results indicate that Africentric values were a significant, yet modest predictor of drug knowledge accounting for approximately 4% of the variance. Similarly, racial identity was a significant predictor of drug use and of drug attitudes accounting for approximately 2% and 8% of the variance, respectively. Also, gender, an individual domain variable, was a significant predictor of drug use, attitudes, and knowledge. Males reported more drug use, had attitudes more tolerant of drugs, and had less drug knowledge than females.

Protecting Our Daughters: Intersection of Race, Class and Gender in African American Mothers’ Socialization of Their Daughters’ Heterosexuality

“…Consequently, passive or traditional feminine role characteristics (i.e., lack of assertiveness, overemphasis on motherhood and nurturance as the definition of womanhood) seem to be associated with early sexual activity and inconsistent condom use (Wingood and DiClemente 1998), behaviors that have been shown to increase risk for HIV infection. In a similar vein, a greater proportion of assertive or traditional masculine role characteristics in girls has been positively associated with risky sexual behavior (Belgrave et al 2000) and attitudes tolerant of risky sexual behavior (Townsend 2002). …”

An Evaluation Study of the Young Empowered Sisters (YES!) Program: Promoting Cultural Assets Among African American Adolescent Girls Through a Culturally Relevant School-Based Intervention

“…Cultural assets are factors related to positive outcomes for a particular ethnic group (Frison, Wallander, & Browne, 1998). A number of scholars have pointed to the tremendous need for youth development interventions to be culturally relevant to the lives of participating youth, in particular those who are ethnically marginalized (e.g., Belgrave et al, 2000;Gibbs, 1998;Kumpfer et al, 2002;Lee, Spencer, & Harpalani, 2003). Culturally relevant interventions are situated in the belief that all youth have cultural and experiential differences that are a function of their interacting ecologies consisting of their family system, peer social network, and larger institutional, societal, and historical systems.…”

The Irish Traveller Community: Social Capital and Drug Use

“…Ethnic identity encompasses specific norms, distinct values, and typical behaviors that are transmitted within generations and has been found to be negatively related to drug use and pro-drug using attitudes (Kulis, Napoli, & Marsiglia, 2002). The protection of ethnic identity, and thereby perception of social capital, has much to offer in terms of offering resilience to drug experimentation (Belgrave, Ridley Brome, & Hampton, 2000;Brook, Whiteman, Balka, Thet Win, & Gursen, 1998;Townsend & Belgrave, 2000). Those with high evaluations of ethnic pride report higher levels of self-esteem, with personal self-esteem acting as negative correlate to drug use (Crocker, Luhtanen, Blaine, & Broadnax, 1994;Hughes & Demo, 1989).…”