Association of drug use and mental health status of African American youth

Drug use among African American youth was reportedly lower than their White counterparts. However, little information exists on the correlation between drug use and mental health among the population. This secondary data analysis study explored drug use status of Black youth in conjunction with their mental health problems. Using the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data, we compared drug use history of black and white teenagers and their history of overnight hospital stay for mental service and past psychological distress. Of the total of 55435 usable surveys, 13036 were 12-17 years old Blacks (18.7%) and Whites (81.3%). Black youth were less likely than Whites to use tobacco (21.1% vs. 31.3%), alcohol (33.7% vs. 41.7%), marijuana (16.3% vs. 17.4%), or other illegal drugs (4.1% vs. 8.7%). Tobacco or prescription drug misuse increased the odds of hospital stay for mental services for both Blacks and Whites. For Whites, drug users had a higher level of distress than none users while for Blacks, drug users had had a lower level of distress than none users, except for alcohol drinkers. Our findings confirmed a lower prevalence rate of drug use for black youth. It also found a contradictory relationship between drug use and psychological distress between Blacks and Whites. While family structure, parent-children communication, and religious practice are widely cited explanations as protective factors of drug use for Blacks how these factors protect their mental health is a topic worthy further study.