Determinants of Drinking Trajectories Among Minority Youth and Young Adults: The Interaction of Risk and Resilience

Adolescent drinking research has focused heavily on risks for alcohol-related consequences and on personality traits associated with adverse alcohol-related outcomes. A risk-based paradigm may inadvertently overemphasize risk when measures are applied to communities that experience discrimination and socioeconomic disadvantage. In this study we use qualitative methods to examine drinking motives and the relationship between motives and patterns of risk and resilience among a diverse group of 60 youth and young adults enrolled in an independent trial of brief intervention for alcohol use at an inner-city pediatric emergency department and report on their own understandings of their experiences, particularly their reasons for drinking. We found a clear distinction between drinking to "chill" and drinking to "cope" with very different projected life course trajectories despite similarities between groups in neighborhood and interpersonal stressors. Strategies to motivate "copers" to alter drinking behavior may need to be shored up with a network of support services.