KCCI.com, IA
02-20-07
Study: Racism Strong Predictor Of Black Teens' Drug Use
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa State University study shows that racial
discrimination is a strong predictor of drug use by black teenagers.
The study by Iowa State's Institute for Social and Behavioral Research of more
than 600 black children from Georgia and Iowa found that those who experience
racial discrimination before they turn 12 are twice as likely to use drugs by the
time they are teenagers, according to a news release.
Among those who experienced discrimination also had what the study called
"conduct disorders" in which teens committed acts such as vandalism or burglary
and more than half reported drug use five years later, according to the research.
Participants were studied from age 10 until about age 18 or 19. Half of the 889
families who participated where from Des Moines and Waterloo and the other
half were from small towns in Georgia.
The findings will be published in the next issue of the Drug and Alcohol
Dependence journal.
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