Racial identity and its assessment in a sample of African-American men in treatment for cocaine dependence

Substance abuse treatment studies frequently include subjects from differen t ethnic and racial groups, but many investigations limit the examination o f race and ethnicity to the use of nominal labels. This approach reveals li ttle about the social or psychological significance of racial and ethnic gr oup membership to the subjects of study or about the potential effects of t hese factors on substance-involved behaviors. In this study, a principal co mponents analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was conducted on the 50-item long form of the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS) (1) in a sample of 2 94 African-American men in treatment for cocaine dependence. The RIAS was d eveloped to measure attitudes about race and racial status among blacks, bu t it has not been utilized widely in substance abuse research. Our findings provide evidence for the structural validity of this instrument in this sa mple of substance abusers. We discuss how recent advances in racial identit y theory and its measurement may provide an important avenue for understand ing the psychological consequences of racial group membership and for exami ning the potential effects of these factors on treatment response in studie s of substance misuse.