Psychosocial predictors of substance use among rural African-American and Caucasian college students

The current study was undertaken to examine demographic and mental health-related predictors of alcohol and drug use among rural African-American and Caucasian college students. Data collection is ongoing - analyses below represent the first 491 participants of 1500. Participants were recruited from a mid-size University in the rural South with a high representation (26%) of African-Americans. Measures assessed demographics, depression, anxiety, and alcohol and substance use. In these interim multivariate logistic regression analyses, for African-American women age (OR = 1.6; p = 0.006) and anxiety (OR = 1.1; p = 0.048) were predictive of drug use, and all African-American women who used drugs reported abusing alcohol (OR undefined). For Caucasian women, being in a long-term relationship was protective against alcohol abuse (OR = 0.3; p = 0.005), depression was predictive of alcohol abuse (OR = 1.1; p = 0.019), and age (OR = 1.2; p = 0.046), depression (OR = 1.1; p = 0.041), and alcohol use (OR = 12.8; p = 0.001) were predictive of drug use. For African-American men, age (OR = 3.8; p = 0.033) and anxiety (OR = 1.1; p = 0.040) were predictive of drug use, and for Caucasian men alcohol abuse was predictive (OR = 3.3; p = 0.015) of drug use. Initial interim analyses indicate that predictors of alcohol and drug use vary both across genders and between African-Americans and Caucasians, with additional factors trending toward significance (data not shown). Implications for prevention will be discussed.