Substance Use Among Urban Youth of Color: Exploring the Role of Community-Based Predictors, Ethnic Identity, and Intrapersonal Psychological Empowerment

Objective: Advances in the etiology of substance use in ethnic minority youth over the last 30 years have not adequately addressed factors and conditions that protect youth from substance use. This research has also failed to consider the impact of ethnic identity and empowerment-based processes among urban youth of color. The aim of the present study was to uncover, first, the mediating effect of ethnic identity between community-based predictors (e.g., community participation and neighborhood sense of community) and 30-day substance use, and second, the mediating effect of intrapersonal psychological empowerment (PE) between ethnic identity and 30-day substance use. Method: Data were from a sample (N = 1,480) of African-American/Black (30.4%) and Hispanic/ Latinx (59.1%) urban adolescents, who were largely female (61%) and between 16 and 18 years of age (70.5%). Main analytic procedures were carried out through AMOS structural equation modeling software. Results: Results from this study displayed the importance of ethnic identity and PE as mechanisms associated with reducing 30-day substance use. Both PE and ethnic identity mediated the effect community-based predictors had in reducing 30-day substance use. In addition, PE was observed to also mediate the effect between ethnic identity and 30-day substance use, providing insight into the relationship between ethnic identity and PE. Conclusion: The salience of ethnic identity and PE as mechanisms associated with reducing 30-day substance use are discussed. In addition, findings provide useful insight into the development of youth- and community-based prevention policies and programming to help reduce substance use and empower adolescents of color.