CONTRIBUTING FACTORS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS RESIDING IN PUBLIC HOUSING: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN

ADOLESCENTS RESIDING IN PUBLIC HOUSING: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE

REVIEW

Kristin Miller and Gabrielle Harvey

Faculty Sponsor: Young-Me Lee, PhD, RN

Background: Despite the provided funding from the government and implementation of current prevention programs for African-American adolescents, substance abuse is still a serious public health problem in this population.

Objectives: To determine the contributing factors of substance abuse among African-American adolescents residing in public housing and to review the current effective intervention programs that address those factors that lead to substance abuse in this population.

Method: An integrative literature review was conducted. An analysis of research articles and government resources was performed.

Findings/Results: There were five recurring contributing factors that appeared in the reviewed literature: parental monitoring, peer influence, family influence, exposure to life stressors (community violence, household conflict, low-income), and mental health. The current reviewed intervention programs only address a few of these factors.

Conclusion: This review revealed that the current intervention programs could be more effective if addressing all of the contributing factors. Further research is needed to develop new programs and new ways of detecting individuals in this population that are at risk for substance abuse.

Keywords: African Americans, blacks, adolescents, adolescence, teens, teenagers, youth, substance abuse, drug abuse, contributing factors, contributory factors, risk factors, public housing, and low income