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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Ethn Subst Abuse. 2020 Jul 22;21(2):638–661. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2020.1793865

Associations between Ethnic-Racial Identity and Alcohol Problems among Diverse Emerging Adults

Chloe J Walker 1, Chelsea Derlan Williams 1, Jamie Cage 1, Eryn N DeLaney 1, Fantasy T Lozada 1; The Spit for Science Working Group1, Danielle M Dick 1
PMCID: PMC7928211  NIHMSID: NIHMS1670984  PMID: 32697621

Abstract

Excessive alcohol use and problems during college is a major public health concern, and there are health disparities in patterns of drinking and alcohol-related illnesses based on ethnicity and race. Given the prevalence and disparities in excessive alcohol use and problems and associated negative impacts, it is important to examine potential protective factors such as dimensions of ethnic-racial identity (ERI). Thus, the current study examined how multiple dimensions of ERI were associated with alcohol use and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms, and how these relations varied by individuals’ ethnic-racial group among 1850 diverse emerging adults (M = 18.46, SD = .38). Findings indicated that there were significant differences by race/ethnicity. ERI affirmation was negatively associated with AUD symptoms for Asian individuals and African American individuals, while ERI exploration was positively associated with AUD symptoms among African American individuals. ERI resolution was negatively associated with alcohol use for Latinx individuals and positively associated with alcohol use for Multiracial individuals. Among White individuals, ERI exploration was negatively associated with alcohol use and ERI affirmation was negatively associated with AUD symptoms. Overall, the current study builds on our understanding of nuanced ways in which ethnic-racial identity impacts alcohol problems among emerging adults and highlights areas for future research.

Keywords: ethnic-racial identity, alcohol problems, emerging adults

Excessive alcohol use and problems1 during college is a major public health concern. The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicated that 58% of full-time college students in the U.S. consumed alcohol in the past month (SAMHSA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 20152015). Harmful and underage drinking impairs the intellectual and social lives of students across campuses (NIAAA; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2014). Further, excessive drinking and alcohol problems in college increase individuals’ risk for serious health issues later in life, such as high blood pressure (e.g., World Health Organization, 2014), alcohol-related liver disease (Hatton et al., 2009), and cancer (e.g., breast cancer, colon cancer; McKnight-Eily et al., 2017).

There are health disparities in patterns of drinking and alcohol-related illnesses based on ethnicity and race. For example, Chartier and Caetano (2010) found that White adults reported the highest rates of alcohol consumption (59.8%), followed by Native Americans (47.8%), Latinxs (46.3%), African Americans (43.8%), and Asians (38%). However, African American and Latinx adults were more likely to report higher alcohol use disorder symptoms than White adults (Mulia et al., 2009). Similarly, alcohol-related illnesses, including cirrhosis death rates and liver disease, are higher among Latinx and African American individuals than White individuals (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Minority Health and Health Disparities, 2013).

Given the prevalence and disparities in excessive alcohol use and problems, and associated negative impacts, it is important to understand factors that play a role in reducing alcohol problems among diverse emerging adults. Previous research has indicated that various factors increase the risk of alcohol problems among diverse individuals, such as environments where risky behaviors take place (Gibbons et al., 2004; Nash et al., 2005) and decrease the risk of alcohol problems, such as social advantages (i.e., alcohol-related refusal skill and religious beliefs; Mason et al., 2010). Although prior work has provided important information about some of the personal (Austin, 2004), family (Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2016), and genetic factors (Dalvie et al., 2017) that inform alcohol problems, less work has tested whether cultural factors may play a role.

Culture is an important part of how one’s values, beliefs and practices are established (García Coll et al., 1996; Garcia Coll, Akerman, Cicchetti, 2000) and may influence an individual’s views on and use of alcohol. Specifically, a cultural factor that may be associated with alcohol use and alcohol use disorder symptoms is ethnic-racial identity (ERI). Although some research has examined associations between ERI and alcohol problems (e.g., Nasim et al., 2007; Skewes & Blume, 2015), this work mainly focuses on the developmental period of adolescence and has tended to examine only one dimension of ERI (e.g., affirmation), despite theoretical and empirical conceptions of ERI as a multidimensional construct that continues to unfold throughout adulthood (e.g., Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). Therefore, the current study examined how multiple dimensions of ERI (e.g., exploration, resolution, and affirmation) were associated with alcohol use and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms and tested how these relations varied by individuals’ ethnicity/race.

ERI during Emerging Adulthood

Defined as a multidimensional construct, ERI includes the beliefs and attitudes one has about their ethnic-racial group membership, as well as the processes that help these beliefs and attitudes develop over time (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). Although there are several conceptualizations of ERI and the dimensions involved, an approach that has been commonly tested and supported in the literature is a three-dimensional conceptualization of ERI that consists of exploration (i.e., searching and learning more about one’s ethnic-racial group), resolution (i.e., gaining a sense of clarity about being a member of one’s ethnic-racial group), and affirmation (i.e., the positive or negative feelings one has toward being a member of their ethnic-racial group, which is also commonly referred to as ERI pride; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2004). Scholars have highlighted that ERI can be understood in terms of including process dimensions (e.g., exploration and resolution) that involve individuals’ experiences that they engage in to form their ERI, and content dimensions (e.g., affirmation) that capture individuals’ attitudes and feelings towards their ERI (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2004).

Throughout the literature, the majority of work examining how ERI impacts alcohol problems has been on the content dimensions of ERI (e.g., affirmation; Ma et al., 2017), rather than on the process dimensions of ERI (e.g., exploration, resolution). This is a notable limitation given that engaging in the processes involved in forming an identity is important, particularly during emerging adulthood, a developmental period defined by the late teenage years through the mid-twenties (Arnett, 2000). Commonly during this developmental period and especially in college environments, individuals experience diversity in peers, classes, and social settings, which stimulates emerging adults to increasingly think about their own social group memberships and ERI (Azmitia et al., 2013). Furthermore, during college, individuals experience increased independence and opportunities to make decisions about engaging in risk-taking behaviors like excessive alcohol use (Evans et al., 2016). Thus, a consideration of how multiple dimensions of ERI unfold during emerging adulthood and how this predicts alcohol problems is important.

ERI as a Predictor of Alcohol Problems among Diverse Youth

A theory that is useful for understanding how ERI may predict alcohol problems is Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), which posits that individuals’ social group memberships play an important role in how they form their self-concept. It is posited that individuals strive to uphold a positive self-concept through maintaining a positive perception of their social group (or conversely, avoiding a negative perception of their social group; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Given that ethnicity and/or race is an important social identity during emerging adulthood (Syed & Azmitia, 2009), it is possible that emerging adults who have a more developed and positive ERI (e.g., greater ERI exploration, resolution, and affirmation) may desire to maintain a positive self-concept by avoiding a negative perception of their social group, and, therefore, engage in less excessive alcohol use and alcohol use disorder symptoms.

Although limited work has examined whether ERI is associated with alcohol problems among diverse emerging adults, prior research provides support for this association among diverse adolescents. For example, Zapolski and colleagues (2017) examined ERI affirmation and exploration and substance use, including alcohol use, among White, African American, Latinx, Native American, Asian and Multiracial individuals who were 10 to 18 years old. Findings indicated that for African American and Multiracial adolescents, having a higher ERI affirmation and exploration was associated with lower alcohol use. However, for White adolescents, higher ERI affirmation and exploration were associated with higher alcohol use, and no significant association was found between ERI and alcohol use for Asian and Native American adolescents. Further, when examining the relations between ERI affiliation and attachment (i.e., “most of my friends are from my ethnic group”), pride (i.e., “being from my ethnic group is important to who I am”) and substance use, Marsiglia et al. (2001) found that African American, Mexican American, and Multiracial students with higher ERI pride reported less substance use, while White students with higher ERI pride reported more substance use. In another study with Asian American, African American, Multiracial, European American, Native American and Latinx adolescents, Choi et al. (2006) found that among all adolescents in the study, stronger ERI affirmation and belonging was associated with less substance use. Additionally, the results indicated that the relation between ERI affirmation and belonging and substance use was stronger for Multiracial adolescents compared to other adolescents. These notable studies are among the few that have included content dimensions of ERI (e.g., ERI affirmation and belonging) and process dimensions of ERI (e.g., ERI exploration, achievement, and practices) and statistically tested for racial group differences.

Regarding studies that tested content dimensions of ERI among diverse adolescents, Marsiglia et al. (2004) examined ERI affiliation and affirmation and substance use (including alcohol use) among Mexican, Mexican Multiethnic, other Latinx, White, African American, American Indian and other Multiethnic adolescents. Findings indicated that higher ERI affiliation and affirmation predicted lower substance use for White adolescents, but higher substance use for Mexican American, American Indian, and multiethnic Mexican adolescents. Moreover, Gil et al. (2004) examined ERI pride and alcohol use among Latinx and African American adolescents 14 to 19 years old. Findings indicated that for African American and Latinx adolescents, higher ERI pride was linked with less alcohol use.

As noted, limited work has tested whether ERI is related to less alcohol problems among diverse emerging adults although some research supports this association. For example, among African American, Asian and Latinx adults 18 years and older, content dimensions of ERI (i.e., strong self-concept, racial pride, belonging, and attitudes) were linked with lower odds of lifetime alcohol use disorder (Burnett-Zeigler et al., 2013). Similarly, among non-Native (i.e., White, African American, Latinx and Asian) and Native (i.e., Alaska Native/American Indian) college students in Alaska, ERI resolution predicted less alcohol problems among both groups (Skewes & Blume, 2015). Although some work has tested these relations among emerging adults, limited studied have specifically tested whether there were significant racial differences in how ERI predicts alcohol problems.

Differences in how ERI Informs Alcohol Problems based on Ethnic-Racial Group

Previous work indicates that the rates of developing alcohol problems vary depending on individuals’ ethnic-racial group. For example, African American and Latinx individuals are at higher risk for alcohol dependence, and White individuals report the highest rates of excessive alcohol consumption (NIAAA, 2013). It is possible that the factors that underlie alcohol problems may also vary by individuals’ ethnicity and race. However, apart from a few notable exceptions with adolescents (e.g., Zapolski et al., 2017), research on ERI and alcohol problems has not tested whether there are meaningful differences in these relations based on individuals’ ethnicity and race. Although the majority of research has not tested ethnic-racial group differences specifically, findings from existing research that included individuals from diverse backgrounds, as well as previous work focused on specific ethnic-racial groups, demonstrates that there may be meaningful ethnic-racial group differences in how ERI impacts alcohol problems. Thus, given that the current study focused on African American, Latinx, White, Asian and Multiracial individuals, findings from previous work that tested the relation between ERI and alcohol problems are highlighted.

The majority of the research investigating the extent to which ERI is linked to alcohol problems focuses on African American adolescents. Previous work with African American individuals has indicated that generally ERI is associated with less alcohol use (Burlew et al., 2000; Caldwell et al., 2004), less heavy alcohol use specifically (Nasim et al., 2007), and a lower willingness to use substances (Stock et al., 2013). This work has tended to focus on content dimensions of ERI, such as affirmation and belonging, while less has focused on process dimensions.

Less is known about the relationship between ERI and alcohol related problems for Latinx and White individuals and the existing research has tended to be mixed. Overall, some findings suggest that higher ERI results in lower alcohol use among Latinx adolescents (Zapolski et al., 2017; Castro et al., 2009), other findings have indicated that there is no significant relation (Ma et al., 2017). However, the majority of work has focused on Latinx adolescents, therefore, more work is needed that examines the link between multiple dimensions of ERI and alcohol problems among Latinx emerging adults.

Existing research with White individuals tend to focus on adolescents and has been inconclusive. In particular, as noted, Zapolski et al. (2017) and Marsiglia et al. (2001) found that among White adolescents, higher ERI was associated with more substance use. However, other work found that higher ERI affirmation was associated with less substance use among White adolescents (Marsiglia et al., 2004). An important note is that these three prior studies that have included White individuals assessed a composite of substance use that included alcohol use, as well as other substances (e.g., cigarettes and marijuana). Thus, it is unclear how findings may vary when only alcohol problems are assessed. Further, this previous work focused on adolescents, and no studies to our knowledge have focused on White emerging adults.

Even less is known about the association between ERI and alcohol problems of Asian and Multiracial individuals. To our knowledge, only one study has tested ERI and alcohol problems among Asian Individuals. Although this study included adolescents from numerous ethnic-racial backgrounds (as noted above), findings revealed that among Asian adolescents specifically, ERI exploration and affirmation was not significantly associated with alcohol use (Zapolski et al., 2017). Multiracial individuals may think about their races/ethnicities differently than monoracial individuals, such as identifying with only one of their ethnic-racial groups or thinking about themselves collectively as Mixed or Multiracial (Rockquemore, 1999; Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002), making it particularly important to understand their unique experiences with ERI and alcohol problems. To our knowledge, only one study focused exclusively on ERI and alcohol problems for Multiracial individuals. Scholars found that Multiracial adolescents’ ERI exploration and affirmation were associated with less alcohol use (Fisher et al., 2017). Similarly, work with diverse samples that was noted above found that Multiracial adolescents who had higher ERI were less likely to frequently use substances (e.g., alcohol; Zapolski et al., 2017). Overall, work previous work with Asian and Multiracial individuals has not included emerging adults, making it unclear if similar findings emerge during this developmental period.

The Current Study

In summary, the majority of previous work examining ERI and alcohol problems has focused predominantly on African American adolescents (e.g., Caldwell et al., 2004), and less on other racial groups and developmental periods. Previous studies have tended to focus on one ethnic-racial group (e.g., Ma, 2017), and the studies that included multiple individuals from diverse ethnic-racial groups (e.g., Gil et al., 2004) did not examine whether there were significant differences in relations based on ethnicity/race, apart from two studies with adolescents (e.g., Zapolski et al., 2017). Additionally, because the majority of previous work has focused more on content dimensions of ERI (e.g., Caldwell et al., 2004), we know less about how process dimensions of ERI (i.e., exploration and resolution) inform alcohol problems among diverse emerging adults.

Thus, to fill these gaps in previous literature, the aim of the current study was to examine the effect of three dimensions of ERI (i.e., exploration, resolution, and affirmation) on alcohol problems (i.e., alcohol use and AUD symptoms) among Asian, African American, Latinx, White, and Multiracial college students. Based on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), ERI was expected to be associated with less alcohol use and AUD symptoms, and generally previous work has supported this notion (Stock et al., 2013), although some findings have been more inconclusive based on the dimensions of ERI and ethnic-racial group of participants. Therefore, based on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), we hypothesized that ERI exploration, ERI resolution, and ERI affirmation would be associated with less alcohol use and AUD symptoms outcomes across all emerging adults. Also, because previous research has indicated that alcohol use and AUD symptoms can vary as a function of age and sex (Grant, Stinson, & Hartford, 2001; Caetano, Mikler & Rodriguez, 2008), we included sex and age as controls (see Figure 1 for a conceptual model).

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Conceptual model of relations between ethnic-racial identity dimensions predicting alcohol use and alcohol use disorder symptoms. Sex and age were included as control paths.

Finally, although prior work has established the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2004) to be a valid and reliable measure of ERI among diverse emerging adults (Brittian et al., 2013; Brittian et al., 2015; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2013; Weisskirch et al., 2011), the equivalence of the measurement structure of the brief form of the Ethnic-Identity Scale has not been validated across ethnic-racial groups. Therefore, we began the current study by ensuring that the factor structure of the Ethnic Identity Scale Brief (EIS-B; Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015) worked consistently across the current sample.

Methods

Participants and Procedure

The current study used secondary data from (Dick et al., 2014), an on-going longitudinal study that enrolled 5 cohorts of incoming first-time freshmen at a Predominately White Institution (PWI). All incoming freshman students who began at the university in 2011-2014 or 2017 (i.e., 5 cohorts) who were aged 18 years or older were invited to participate in a self-report survey during their first semester of college, as well as a follow-up survey each subsequent spring semester. Any students that accessed the survey through an email link were led through an informed consent process that explained the study and that their participation was voluntary. Students who chose to participate completed the survey online, which took approximately 30 minutes to complete. After completing the survey, students received $10 compensation. Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools (Harris et al., 2009).

The current study focused on students who completed a survey in Spring 2017 because this was the only wave that included questions about ERI. Further, although there are currently 5 cohorts in the larger longitudinal study, we only used data from cohorts 1-4 (i.e., students who began college in 2011-2014) because the 5th cohort was not added until the semester after ERI measures were added to data collection (i.e., Fall 2017), and therefore students in Cohort 5 did not complete ERI questions. Therefore, all measures in the current study were completed by students who began college in 2011-2014 and were currently in their third, fourth, fifth or sixth year in college.

Students who identified as White (n = 814), Black/African American (n = 420), Hispanic/Latinx (n = 112), Asian (n = 385) and more than one race (n = 119) were included in analyses. Specifically, among students who reported their sex as male or female, the sample included 263 White males, 547 White females, 100 African American males, 319 African American females, 43 Latinx males, 69 Latinx females, 38 Multiracial males, and 80 Multiracial females. Given the focus of the current study on examining ethnic-racial group differences in how ERI impacts alcohol problems, we were unable to include individuals with other ethnic-racial backgrounds (e.g., American Indian, Native Hawaiian) because there was too small a number of individuals (i.e., n = 29 American Indian individuals) to test moderation by additional ethnic-racial groups.

The current analytic sample included 1850 emerging adults ages 18 to 22 years (M = 18.46, SD = .38), with the majority identifying as female (69%). The majority of the sample consisted of individuals who lived in a residence hall on campus (70%) and were not currently working (60%).

Measures

Alcohol use.

Alcohol use was measured using one-item: “How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?”. Options ranged from 1 = never to 5 = four or more times a week.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms.

AUD symptoms were assessed via 16 items assessing 11 symptoms derived from AUD criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders 5th ed. (DSM-V; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Participants who reported having ever consumed alcohol were asked these items (e.g., “In situations where you couldn't drink, did you ever have such a strong desire for it that you couldn't think of anything else?”) with some criteria assessed using multiple items. For all but 2 items, response options were answered using a three-point scale with the following answer options 1 = never, 2 = 1–2 times, 3 = 3 or more times. Participants endorsing a “3” were coded as positive for the symptom. Items addressing craving and tolerance had response options of “no” and “yes,” coded 0 and 1, respectively. Participants missing more than half their data within a wave were coded as missing for that wave. A sum of the 16 items (i.e.,11 symptoms) were calculated to account for missingness (when at least half the data was present) and data structure. Individuals who did not report drinking alcohol or ever having been drunk were coded as 0 for all AUD symptoms. AUD symptom sum scores ranged from 0 to 13. Support for validity and reliability (α = .94) has been provided with work focused on diverse emerging adults (Lind et al., 2017).

Ethnic-racial identity.

To assess ethnic-racial identity, the 9-item brief form of the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS-B; Douglass & Umaña-Taylor, 2015) was used. The EIS-B measures three dimensions of ERI: Exploration (3-items; e.g., “I have attended events that have helped me learn about my ethnicity.”), Resolution (3-items; e.g., “I know what my ethnicity means to me.”), and Affirmation (3-items; e.g., “I dislike my ethnicity”, reverse coded). Responses were rated on a 4-point Likert Scale, in which 1 = Does not describe me at all, and 4 = Describes me very well. All six items in the EIS-B Exploration and Resolution subscales are positively worded, and three items from the Affirmation subscale are negatively worded. Negatively worded items were reverse scored so higher scores represent higher levels of affirmation. The items in each scale were averaged to produce three ERI subscale scores. Alphas in the current study were .88 for exploration, .88 for resolution, and .83 for affirmation.

Measurement invariance for the EIS-B.

While prior work has established the 17-item Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS; Umaña-Taylor et al., 2004) to be a valid and reliable measure of ERI among diverse emerging adults (e.g., Brittian et al., 2013; Syed et al., 2013; Yoon, 2011), less work has examined equivalence of the measurement structure of the brief form. To ensure that the EIS-B functioned similarly across individuals, we tested measurement invariance (i.e., configural, weak, and strong invariance) of the three-factor structure (i.e., ERI exploration, resolution, and affirmation) with three items on each factor. For configural invariance we examined whether items loaded onto each factor above .40; Chen, 2007), and to establish weak and strong invariance, we examined the change in CFI between the configural vs. weak model (for weak invariance) and between the weak vs. strong model (for strong invariance), and if it was less than or equal to .01, it indicated that there was invariance across groups (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). Configural invariance was established, but weak invariance was not (i.e., ΔCFI > .01). When we examined the factor loadings from the configural model, two items in the affirmation subscale did not load above a .40 for some of the groups (i.e., the items “I dislike my ethnicity” and “I feel negatively about my ethnicity”). Because this left only one item in the ERI affirmation factor that loaded above .40, and it is not possible to have a 1-item factor in confirmatory factor models, we removed the entire 3-item ERI affirmation factor (i.e., Item 8, Item 4, and Item 5), and retested.

The 2-factor, 6-item model demonstrated configural and weak invariance, but not strong invariance (ΔCFI > .01). The mean for White individuals was lower than the means of the 4 ethnic-racial minority groups (i.e., African American, Asian, Multiracial, and Latinx individuals). Thus, we constrained the means to be equal for the 4 racial minority groups only and left the mean for the White group freely estimated to test for weak and strong invariance. The ΔCFI between the strong and weak models was less than or equal to .01 (ΔCFI = .01), indicating that strong invariance was established across the 4 racial minority groups. Thus, given that configural, weak, and strong measurement equivalence was established across African American, Asian, Multiracial, and Latinx individuals, in all subsequent analyses we ran models with all 4 minority groups included together, and analyses for White students were tested in a separate model. Additionally, given that two items in the affirmation subscale did not load above a .40 for some of the groups, the 1-item affirmation subscale (i.e., “I wish I were of a different ethnicity” reverse coded to indicate more positive affect) was used in all analyses.

Results

First, means, correlations and standard deviations were computed for all study variables (see Table 1). All analyses were tested in MPlus 8.0 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998- 2017) with maximum likelihood (i.e., ML) estimation, which accounts for missing data (Enders, 2013).

Table 1.

Bivariate Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations Among Study Variables for the Minority Individuals (n = 1036) and the White Individuals (n = 814)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Alcohol Use -- 47** −.07 .00 −.05 .02 −.16
2. AUD Symptoms 44** -- .05 .02 −.13** −.07 −.06
3. ERI Exploration −.00 .06 -- .45* −.10** −.01 −.04
4. ERI Resolution −.03 −.06 .52** -- .06 −.01 .04
5. ERI Affirmation .02 −.17** .00 .20** -- −.06 −.01
6. Age −.01 −.05 −.04 −.06 −.07 -- −.07
7. Gender −.07* −.08* .12** .12** .06 .00 --
Minority Individuals
 Mean 2.63 2.16 2.63 3.30 3.80 18.45 1.71
 SD .93 2.27 .93 .73 .47 .39 .46
White Individuals
 Mean 3.17 3.07 1.71 2.64 3.67 18.48 1.68
 SD .97 2.67 .85 .90 .58 .37 .48
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Note. Correlations for the Minority Groups (i.e., Asian, Black, Latinx, Multiracial) are below the diagonal; correlations for the White group are above the diagonal.

*

p < .05.

**

p < .01.

***

p < .001.

To test our research question of how ERI informed alcohol problems similarly or differently based on an individual’s race, we specified a multigroup model that included race (i.e., Asian, African American, Latinx, and Multiracial) as the grouping variable, along with age and sex as controls. As noted, White individuals were included in a separate model.

To test for significant racial group differences in how ERI predicted alcohol problems, we used a nested model approach in which we examined the difference between models using the change in CFI and RMSEA confidence intervals. In this method, a first model allowed all path estimates to be freely estimated across each racial group (i.e., an unconstrained model), and the second model constrained the path estimates to be equal across each racial group (i.e., fully constrained model). When the ΔCFI between the unconstrained and fully constrained model were less than or equal to .01 and the RMSEA values fell within one another’s confidence intervals, it suggested that there were significant differences in how the independent variables predicted the outcomes based on racial group. If this occurred, then using the unconstrained model, we sequentially constrained paths one at a time to examine which paths differed significantly by race.

First, we ran the multigroup nested models that included Asian, African American, Latinx, and Multiracial individuals grouped by ethnicity/race. When the unconstrained model was compared to the fully constrained model, results indicated that the ΔCFI was less than or equal to .01 (ΔCFI = 0) and the RMSEA values fell within one another’s confidence intervals: in the unconstrained model the RMSEA = 0.00, 90% CI [.00 – .04], and in the fully constrained model the RMSEA = 0.00, 90% CI[.00 – .04]. This suggested that there were significant differences in the paths in the model based on ethnicity/race. Thus, we moved forward with the unconstrained model, and sequentially constrained paths one at a time to examine which paths differed significantly by ethnicity/race. Findings indicated that each path in the model was significantly different across racial groups because in all tests, the ΔCFI was less than or equal to .01, and the RMSEA values fell into one another’s confidence intervals. Therefore, our final model was the unconstrained model in which all paths were freely estimated across groups.

The final unconstrained model had good fit: χ2 (df = 16) = 10.46, p = .84; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00; 90% CI [.00, .034]; SRMR = .02. As noted, standardized estimates are reported below, and unstandardized estimates are reported in Table 2., ERI affirmation was negatively associated with AUD symptoms for Asian individuals (β = −.20, p = .003); 95% CI [−.31, −.05] and African American individuals (β = −.16, p = .02); 95% CI [−.30, −.05]. ERI exploration was positively associated with AUD symptoms among African American individuals (β = .17, p = .02); 95% CI [.03, .22]. ERI resolution was negatively associated with alcohol use for Latinx individuals (β = −.26, p = .02); 95% CI [−.09, .06] positively associated with alcohol use for Multiracial individuals (β = .25, p = .03); 95% CI [−.11, .07]. No other hypothesized paths were significant.

Table 2.

Final Unconstrained Path Analysis of the Associations between Ethnic-Racial Identity and Alcohol Use Outcomes Moderated by Ethnicity/Race among Asian (n = 385), Black (n = 420), Latinx (n = 112), and Multiracial (n = 119) College Students.

Path Estimate (SE)
Asian Black Latinx Multiracial
ERI Exp → Alcohol Use .07 (.29) .06 (.31) .14 (.25) −.20 (.07)
ERI Res→ Alcohol Use −.09 (.30) .01 (.93) −.37 (.02) * .29 (.02) *
ERI Aff→ Alcohol Use −.07 (.39) .05 (.64) .14 (.59) −.07 (.78)
ERI Exp → Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms .35 (.08) .39 (.02) * .32 (.33) −.33 (.27)
ERI Res→ Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms −.28 (.27) −.26 (.27) −.57 (.19) .09 (.81)
ERI Aff→ Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms −.64 (.00) ** −.65 (.02) ** −.42 (.51) −.50 (.44)
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Note. ERI = ethnic-racial identity. Exp = exploration. Res = resolution. Aff = affirmation. Unstandardized path estimates displayed. Significant paths are bolded.

*

p < .05.

**

p < .01.

***

p < .001.

Next, we specified a model that tested the associations between ERI and alcohol problems among White individuals. The model had acceptable fit: χ2 (df = 4) = 27.54, p = .00; CFI = .92; RMSEA = .09; 90% CI [.06, .12]; SRMR = .04. ERI exploration was negatively associated with alcohol use (β = −.10, p = .04); 95% CI [−.18, −.01] and ERI affirmation was negatively associated with AUD symptoms (β = −.37, p = .03); 95% CI [−.17, −.01].

Sensitivity analyses.

Although our main goal was to test differences in our model by ethnicity/race, we conducted a series of additional analyses to ensure that findings did not further vary by individuals’ sex. These additional analyses were conducted for Asian, White, and African American students in the study, given that there was a large enough sample to test sex differences within each ethnic-racial group. First, we created three datasets with only Asian students, White students, and African American students in each datasets, and used nested multigroup models with sex as the grouping variable to test for sex differences. The first model was an unconstrained model (i.e., all paths varied freely across Asian males and Asian females) that we compared to a second fully constrained model (i.e., all paths were constrained to be equal across Asian males and Asian females). Using a chi-square difference test, we compared the two nested models, which indicated that there were no significant sex differences in the paths in the model among Asian males and females because the chi square change was not significant [Δ χ2 (Δ df = 6) = 8.96, p = .18]. Next, to test for sex differences among White students, we tested an unconstrained model compared to a fully constrained model, which indicated that there were also no significant sex differences in the paths in the model among White males and females [Δ χ2 (Δ df = 6) = 4.50, p = .61]. Last, we tested for sex differences among African American students by comparing an unconstrained model to a fully constrained model, which indicated that there were also no significant sex differences in the paths in the model among African American males and females [Δ χ2 (Δ df = 6) = 4.64, p = .59].

Discussion

The goal of the current study was to examine how multiple dimensions of ERI were associated with alcohol use and AUD symptoms among White, African American, Asian, Latinx and Multiracial emerging adults, and to test how these relations varied by individual’s ethnicity/race. While some work has assessed links between ERI and alcohol problems (e.g., Skewes & Blume, 2015), it has mainly focused on adolescents, tended to only assess one dimension of ERI, and has not tested whether there are meaningful differences in these relations based on individuals’ ethnicity/race. Addressing these gaps, overall, our results indicated that there are meaningful differences in the links between ERI and alcohol problems across diverse emerging adults.

First, inconsistent with expectations, greater ERI exploration significantly predicted greater AUD symptoms among African American individuals. ERI exploration can involve attending events, participating in activities, and reading books and other materials that include information about one’s ethnicity/race. For the current sample of African American students, it could be that being at a diverse but predominately White institution and experiencing more diversity in their peers, classes, and social settings could possibly stimulate African American students to want to know more about their own group, which facilitated their ERI exploration process (Azmitia et al., 2008). It may be that during this process African American individuals may be encountering negative stereotypes and possibly discrimination. For example, work has shown that African American students report the highest amount of online discrimination (Tynes, et al., 2013). Given this notion, it may be that as African American individuals are exploring in online spaces, they may come across these challenges of interpreting the negative stereotypes and using alcohol to cope with them, which may lead to the development of AUD symptoms. It will be important for future work to examine the role of discrimination and encountering negative stereotypes as African American students engage in ERI exploration as it related to AUD symptoms.

Overall, more work is needed to examine what African American individuals are engaging in and the information they are encountering as part of exploring what it means to them to be African American. Future work should include focus groups that investigate the messages that African American individuals may come across as they explore their ethnic-racial identity.

In contrast to ERI exploration, greater ERI affirmation was associated with less AUD symptoms among African American and Asian individuals. These findings are consistent with work that found that content dimensions of ERI (i.e., racial pride, belonging) were related to African American, Asian and Latinx individuals being less likely to have a lifetime alcohol use disorder (Zapolski et al., 2017). Brittian-Loyd and Williams (2017) have suggested that having pride in your ethnicity/race can act as a protective factor of negative race-based experiences, which is important for positive health and development. Based on this, it could be that ethnic-racial minority individuals who feel good about their ethnicity/race want to continue to uphold that positive perception of their ethnic-racial group, which results in participating less in behaviors like alcohol use over time that could lead to the development of AUD symptoms. It will be important for future work to directly test this notion by examining whether emerging adults are thinking about the perceptions others have about their ethnic-racial group and whether they are trying to maintain positive views from others about their group, which could be the mechanism that explains why ERI affirmation may be linked with less AUD symptoms.

Although relations between ERI resolution and alcohol problems were not significant among African American or Asian individuals, ERI resolution did play a role for alcohol use among Latinx and Multiracial individuals, in opposite directions. Specifically, having a clear sense of being Latinx was associated with less alcohol use. For Latinx students specifically, it could be that through their college experiences with diverse peers, they learn more about themselves and what it means to be Latinx, which could include protective cultural values. For example, an often-strong cultural value in the Latinx community is familism values, which involves representing the family well and caring for one another (Knight et al., 2015). It is possible that part of resolving what it means to be Latinx involves a recognition and stronger adherence to familism values, which may enable Latinx college students to adapt and cope with their everyday race-related experiences, maintain a positive perception of their ethnic-racial membership, and ultimately participate less in negative behaviors such as alcohol use. However, this notion is speculative and warrants future investigation. Specifically, future work could test whether familism values mediates the relation between ERI resolution and less alcohol use. Given the increased risk for the use of alcohol among Latinx individuals (SAMHSA, 2018), it is essential to further work in this area to better understand how and why ERI resolution may be protective for Latinx emerging adults.

Contrary to positive effects for Latinx individuals, ERI resolution was linked to greater alcohol use among Multiracial individuals. Prior work has indicated that multiracial individuals think about their races/ethnicities in numerous ways (Rockquemore, 1999). For example, in considering an African American and White biracial individual, they may move fluidly between a monoracial identity for one of their biracial categories (e.g., African American), a monoracial identity for their other biracial category (e.g., White), and/ or biracial identities (e.g., Biracial, Mixed, etc.), and/or fluidly identify more with whichever identity may seem appropriate in any particular interactional setting and cultural community (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002). Multiracial individuals may also take an approach to not identify with any type of racial category at all, rejecting race as a category completely (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002). Therefore, it is possible that ERI resolution may vary depending on how individuals think about their races/ethnicities, and which identity or identities they were thinking about as they answered questions about their ethnicity/race (e.g., collectively vs. about one of their races/ethnicities). These thoughts towards one’s group may have differential effects on alcohol use, which may have led to the current findings. Findings highlight that more mixed methods research is needed to examine how Multiracial individuals are defining and thinking about their race generally, and also specifically while they are completing measures of ERI to better understand these nuanced processes among Multiracial emerging adults.

Among White individuals, greater ERI exploration and affirmation predicted less alcohol use and less AUD symptoms. These findings are consistent with previous work with White adolescents that indicated that higher ERI affiliation and affirmation predicted lower substance use (Marsiglia et al., 2004). However, given that other previous work with White adolescents indicated that more ERI exploration and affirmation were linked with more alcohol use (Zapolski et al., 2017), more research is needed that continues to understand how these relations vary across time from adolescence through emerging adulthood among White individuals. Additionally, next steps should include testing what mechanisms may moderate or mediate the relations between ERI and alcohol problems among White individuals, which could account for the inconclusive findings across developmental periods among White individuals.

Limitations and Future Directions

The current study has important strengths and implications but there are also limitations to acknowledge. First, the study was cross-sectional; thus, causal relationships cannot be assumed. We were unable to assess how ERI relates to alcohol problems over time during this important development period of ERI development (i.e., emerging adulthood; Arnett, 2000). Second, our results suggest that there are meaningful differences among Latinx, African American, White, Multiracial, and Asian individuals in how ERI predicts alcohol problems. However, we were unable to test differences among other underrepresented ethnic-racial minority groups (e.g., Native Americans) given that there were too few number of individuals in the current study to test for significant differences. Given that Native American individuals, for example, have the second highest rate of alcohol consumption (Chartier & Caetano, 2010), and many of our findings found protective effects of ERI, it is essential that future research focus on dimensions of ERI as potential protective factors for alcohol problems among Native Americans, as well as other underrepresented ethnic-racial minority groups.

Additionally, we conducted sensitivity analyses to further test whether findings varied by individuals’ sex among Asian, White, and African American students in the study. However, given sample size limitations, we were unable to conduct these additional analyses for Multiracial and Latinx students. It will be important in future work with larger samples to test for sex differences within ethnic-racial groups, especially among Multiracial and Latinx students.

Another limitation is that we were unable to examine the composition of the participants’ social network/friendships. Work with adolescents has indicated that an individual’s social network/friendships may play a role in decision-making around alcohol use (Martin et al., 2013; Seffren, 2012), as well as ERI formation (Derlan & Umaña-Taylor, 2015). Thus, it will be important for future work to examine how the composition of participants’ social network/friendships (e.g., racially homogenous, racially heterogeneous friendship networks) may affect relations between ERI and alcohol problems among diverse emerging adults.

Furthermore, previous work has indicated that students at a PWI have increased alcohol use compared to students at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU; Barry et al., 2017; Fagen et al., 2012), and that this may be attributed to the social norms and drinking culture at PWIs. Given that the current sample was from a PWI, findings may vary when the study is replicated at HBCUs. An important future research direction will be to investigate ethnic-racial group differences in how ERI informs alcohol problems, and whether these findings vary when comparing emerging adults attending HBCUs and PWIs.

Despite its limitations, the current study builds on our understanding of cultural factors that underlie alcohol problems among emerging adults and offers important insight for further investigation. First, the present study moves the field forward by focusing on cultural factors that inform alcohol problems, which builds on the personal, family, and genetic factors that have been the focus in much of the prior work with college students (e.g., Alvarez-Alonso et al., 2016). Findings demonstrate that when examining ERI and alcohol problems it is important to consider how and under what circumstances ERI unfolds differently based on individuals’ ethnic-racial background. Scholars have recommended that ERI dimensions are important aspects that need to be considered in alcohol use research among diverse youth and emerging adults. Our findings support this recommendation, highlight how there are differences based on dimension during this developmental period. Overall, continued research and finding ways to translate findings into interventions with college students that incorporate these nuanced mechanisms underlying alcohol problems is a fruitful and important endeavor.

Acknowledgments

Spit for Science has been supported by Virginia Commonwealth University, P20AA017828, R37AA011408, K02AA018755, P50AA022537 and K01AA024152 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and UL1RR031990 from the National Center for Research Resources and National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research. This research was also supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54DA036105 and the Center for Tobacco Products of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the NIH or the FDA. Data from this study are available to qualified researchers by Spit4Science@vcu.edu and via dbGaP (phs001754.v2.p1). We would like to thank the Spit for Science participants for making this study a success, as well as acknowledge The Spit for Science Working Group: Spit for Science Director: Danielle M. Dick. Registry management: Kimberly Pedersen, Zoe Neale, Nathaniel Thomas. Data cleaning and management: Amy E. Adkins, Nathaniel Thomas, Zoe Neale, Kimberly Pedersen, Thomas Bannard & Seung B. Cho. Data collection: Amy E. Adkins, Peter Barr, Holly Byers, Erin C. Berenz, Erin Caraway, Seung B. Cho, James S. Clifford, Megan Cooke, Elizabeth Do, Alexis C. Edwards, Neeru Goyal, Laura M. Hack, Lisa J. Halberstadt, Sage Hawn, Sally Kuo, Emily Lasko, Jennifer Lend, Mackenzie Lind, Elizabeth Long, Alexandra Martelli, Jacquelyn L. Meyers, Kerry Mitchell, Ashlee Moore, Arden Moscati, Aashir Nasim, Zoe Neale, Jill Opalesky, Cassie Overstreet, A. Christian Pais, Kimberly Pedersen, Tarah Raldiris, Jessica Salvatore, Jeanne Savage, Rebecca Smith, David Sosnowski, Jinni Su, Nathaniel Thomas, Chloe Walker, Marcie Walsh, Teresa Willoughby, Madison Woodroof & Jia Yan.

Footnotes

1

Consistent with recommended terminology (e.g., Homman, Edwards, Cho, Dick, & Kendler, 2017), we use excessive alcohol use and alcohol use disorder symptoms to refer to each construct independently, and the term alcohol problems to refer to these constructs collectively.

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