Pathways to Adult Alcohol Abuse across Racial/Ethnic Groups: An Application of General Strain and Social Learning Theories

Abstract

There is considerable variation in the prevalence, etiology and consequences of alcohol and other drug use across racial/ethnic groups, but studies examining these issues among adult populations remain scarce. This is an important oversight as exposure to many of the risk factors associated with substance use and abuse has been shown to vary by race/ethnicity as well as age. This study examines the causes and correlates of adult alcohol abuse across the three largest racial/ethnic groups in the United States—Whites, Blacks and Hispanics—and provides a theoretically grounded examination of substance abuse by applying two general theories of deviance, Agnew's general strain theory and Akers' social learning theory. Results indicate unconditional support for both theories when applied to White alcohol abuse but more conditional support when applied to patterns of adult alcohol abuse among Hispanics and Blacks. These results suggest that these three racial/ethnic groups experience somewhat different pathways to alcohol disorder.