PREDICTING DRINKING PROBLEMS AMONG BLACK-AND-WHITE MEN - RESULTS FROMA NATIONAL SURVEY

This study describes the prevalence of alcohol-related problems and de velops predictive models to explain racial differences in subsamples o f 494 black and 568 white men from a national probability survey of dr inking patterns and problems. The results showed that although black m en exhibited higher mean scores on many types of alcohol-related probl ems, they did not report significantly higher rates of heavier drinkin g and drunkenness. nor did they score higher on a scale of permissiven ess of drinking norms. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated th at race independently predicts problem scores even when controlling fo r other social and demographic factors. Moreover. an interactive model showed that race interacts significantly with the frequency of heavie r drinking and some sociodemographic characteristics. As the frequency of heavier drinking increases, rates of drinking problems rise faster among black men than white men. Religion and unemployment also had di fferent effects on rates of alcohol-related problems in each group of men. These findings suggest that racial differences in the prevalence of drinking problems might be related to differences in the sociocultu ral context of drinking and in the material conditions under which bla ck and white men live.