The role of perceived peer prejudice and teacher discrimination on adolescent substance use: a social determinants approach.

Although Black adolescents have reported a lower prevalence of substance use relative to non-Hispanic Whites, Black youth are disproportionately affected by adverse social outcomes. Social scientists have highlighted that using a framework that includes perceived peer prejudice and teacher discrimination as social determinants of adolescent risk behaviors is essential to fully understanding substance use behaviors in adolescents. However, this area of research remains underdeveloped. This study examined whether and to what extent perceived peer prejudice and teacher discrimination affect binge drinking and marijuana use by Black (n = 514) and non-Hispanic White (n = 2,818) adolescents using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Wave 2, Public Use dataset. Findings suggest that peer prejudice increased the risk of substance use in non-Hispanic White youth only, whereas experiences of teacher discrimination increased the risk of substance use in both Black and non-Hispanic White youth. The study's limitations are noted, and implications for future research are discussed.