SUBSTANCE USE AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN AT RISK FORHIV-INFECTION

Recent epidemiologic surveys of the prevalence of and primary risk fac tors for psychiatric morbidity suggest that socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity and gender represent significant risk factors for both prim ary Psychiatric and substance use disorders. Further, evidence of conc urrent disorders continues to mount, particularly among inpatients. Th e present study is designed to address the association between heavy s ubstance use and major mental disorders in a large sample of non-HIV-i nfected community-resident African American men. Three hundred eleven seronegative participants in a study of neurobehavioral sequelae of su bstance use and HIV in African American men in the metropolitan Los An geles area were used to investigate the relative contribution of subst ance use and other cofactors in predicting psychiatric morbidity. Resu lts indicate significantly higher rates of 30-day and 12-month Axis I disorders in this sample than reported in the most recent epidemiologi c studies, but consistent with rates observed in seronegative subjects in other HIV/AIDS studies. Further, positive associations between sel ect indices of heavy substance use and both 30-day and 12-month psycho pathology were found. Finally, heavy cocaine use was the primary predi ctor of mood disorder, whereas gay/bisexual orientation and prior hist ory of psychopathology were the primary predictors of anxiety disorder and of any recent Axis I disorder. These findings are discussed in li ght of the primary goals of this community-based study. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.