Ethnic Discrimination's Role on Increased Substance Susceptibility and Use Among US Youth.

Introduction: . Recently, US youth of color reported greater use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis than White youth. Increased levels of discrimination in recent years may have added to the chronic burden associated with increased use among youth of color. Little is known about this relationship, especially among youth who initiate substance use earlier in adolescence. This study assessed the prevalence of substance susceptibility (willingness and curiosity) and use (alcohol, tobacco and cannabis) among youth by race/ethnicity and ethnic discrimination's role on this relationship.

Methods: . Data come from the national panel of 11,868 US youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (baseline through 4^th year follow-up), which assessed these relationships beginning at 9-10 years old. Prevalence of lifetime substance susceptibility and use were quantified by race/ethnicity. Multivariable longitudinal analyses tested whether 1) discrimination was connected to substance susceptibility and lifetime use, and 2) whether that relationship differed by race/ethnicity.

Results: . When compared to White youth, Black youth reported lower lifetime alcohol and tobacco use, lower curiosity towards alcohol and tobacco, and higher willingness to try alcohol. Hispanic youth reported higher willingness to try alcohol. Asian youth reported lower lifetime tobacco use. Higher levels of ethnic discrimination were consistently associated with greater odds of susceptibility and use among all racial/ethnic groups in this study.

Conclusions: . Results show youth of color report lower substance use, however ethnic discrimination may account for some of the recent increased national trends in substance use among youth of color through its impact on their increased susceptibility to use substances.