Substance Abuse in African Americans: In Search of a Culturally Competent Research Agenda

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The Healthy People 2010 guidelines identify substance abuse as a major public health problem in need of effective interventions for diverse populations including racial and ethnic minorities (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2000). However, the literature with regard to substance abuse in the African American community is rather scant (Bass & Kane-Williams, 1993; Dent, Sussman, Ellickson, Brown, & Richardson, 1996). Further compounding this problem is the way that African Americans are classified in our country, which does not adequately capture the diversity within this group (Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998). At least four different groups with differing sets of needs, cultures, socio-economic status, self concept, and substance abuse patterns are imbibed in this single categorization. The first subgroup consists of the blacks that have been living in the country for three or four generations or longer. The second subgroup is comprised of individuals that have migrated from the Caribbean countries. The third subgroup is made up of individuals who are first generation immigrants from Africa, which too has a lot of diversity. The final subgroup consists of multiracial individuals, many of whom are often …